It Girl
by devilxadvocate069
Summary: It all started when Atobe Keigo stuffed his hand into my mouth after dragging me into a closet. It all went downhill from there. AtobexOC
1. No Major Accidents

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing. And I mean NOTHING.**_

_**I hope you enjoy, the story's been stuck in my head for some time already.**_

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Takashina Mai. The unluckiest girl on the planet. AKA Atobe Keigo's girlfriend.

It was the first day of the new semester and I was almost happy that I was back in school. Almost. There was something off about today. Nothing bad had happened to me yet. Something bad _always _happened to me on the first day back to school.

The day was almost over and I was beginning to think that my luck had finally taken a turn for the better when _he _showed up. I was doing nothing wrong, I tell you! I was _in his way _he argued. In his way my ass!

Now, before I show up at his doorstep and shove that precious tennis racquet of his where it _really _belongs, here's how it went. How this crap situation of mine started.

* * *

"It was nice seeing you again, Mai-hime." Yuushi called to me as he stepped into the hallway. I looked up from where I was putting away my things and smiled at him. Handsome wouldn't cut it if I were to describe him but we were friends and he wasn't my type. Yes, dear fangirls, Oshitari Yuushi was not my type. Cry me a river.

I watched as he disappeared down the hall and slung my bookbag onto my shoulder, ready to leave. So far, so good. It looked like I was finally going to get through the first day back without any major incidents like last term's coffee out the window mishap.

It was the first tennis club practice of the term and the halls were almost empty except for the occasional straggler. At least it meant no one to embarrass myself in front of if I did do something stupid. After all, tennis didn't quite interest me especially with my athletic skills, I wouldn't be able to tell a tennis ball from a ping-pong ball. I'm so sorry, dear Yuushi-kun.

Sighing at my lack of athleticism, I rounded a corner and landed on my behind when I collided with none other than the almighty tennis club captain himself, Atobe Keigo. Apologizing absently, I rubbed the sore spot on my butt that I was sure was going to bruise later. And well, me being me, it took me a few seconds to realize that he was who he was when he looked over his shoulder anxiously before picking me up unceremoniously and scowling. "You're in ore-sama's way."

I frowned. What the hell was that for? He was just as much at fault as I was! And seriously, "ore-sama?"

"Atobe-san," I started, irritated. He looked at me suddenly; seemingly startled at my use of his name because he cringed when I said it again.

"Stop saying that." He deadpanned, taking a few steps towards the window and peering outside. He was acting weird. We weren't very close to begin with. I always thought he was kind of a jerk and wanted nothing to do with him even if he was Yuushi's best friend and I guess I wasn't important enough to bother with anyway. For that I was thankful.

I scowled back at him. "Say what? It's your name, isn't it?" I bit out. "A-TO-BE-SA-," I began to say loudly until he slapped a hand over my mouth and looked around with the same expression as earlier.

"Shut up, woman." He hissed quietly. I glared at him over his hand and was about to pull it away when I heard a shout down the hall. The two of us turned simultaneously towards the sound and saw a girl pointing eagerly at Atobe. Fangirl alert. When she turned away from us, I barely registered Atobe pulling me against his front, hand still on my mouth and jerking me towards a closet conveniently located next to us. Too shocked to scream, however useless it was with his hand still on my mouth, one thought crossed my mind before we were engulfed in darkness. _So much for no major incidents._

The closet was cramped and dark and I was fast getting angry at the situation. The sounds of fangirls scurrying about outside filtered through the door and I somehow managed a smirk despite it all. Atobe Keigo was hiding from a bunch of girls!

With my body pressed against his so closely, it was uncomfortable – hello, personal space! – and I could hear him cursing silently next to my ear. The way he was holding me allowed no movement to my arms and, briefly realizing his hand was still on my mouth, I did the first thing that came to mind. I bit him.

That prompted another string of curses to fly from his lips, a little louder this time, and he stepped away from me with a hiss of pain. I stumbled in the darkness for the doorknob and when guessed I found it when my fingers clenched around cool metal. Turning around, I gave him my best glare even though he couldn't see it. "What the _hell _was that, Atobe?" I turned the doorknob quickly but before I could shove it open, I heard Atobe say something akin to 'Don't open the door!' before he slammed into me with a little more force than I expected and sent both of us tumbling to the floor a second time.

An angry fangirl looking down on you is not the best sight to get out of a cramped closet to, I soon learned. I pushed myself up on my forearms and was surprised when Atobe helped me the rest of the way, keeping his grip on my arm even when I was settled on my feet.

"Keigo-sama, what is the meaning of this?" The fangirl whined in her annoying high-pitched voice. I winced and so did Atobe.

I rounded on him, "What _is _the meaning of this?" My eyes flared. He seemed to look thoughtful for a moment, taking in all the stares and glares we – mostly me – were getting. Before anything else happened, his lips were on mine, his hand tugging firmly on my arm.

Atobe Keigo was kissing me.

* * *

As much as that thought disturbed me, I could almost say I enjoyed it but I couldn't be sure because his lips were gone before I could form a coherent thought. All feeling left me as I stared dazedly at his heated blue eyes and I couldn't help but listen to what he said next, his lips brushing against mine ever so lightly with every single syllable. Shock numbed my every limb, whether at the kiss or the declaration I'll never know.

Because you know what he said? He said, and I quote, _"Ladies, this is my girlfriend."_

Shit.

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	2. Dumbstruck

_**Enjoy! I own nothing!**_

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**_Dumbstruck. "Temporarily deprived of the power of speech, as by surprise or confusion." That summed it all up, really.

I was both surprised _and _confused. _Very _surprised and confused.

It doubled my surprise and confusion when he slipped his free arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, if that was even physically possible with how close we were already. The hand on my arm was still there, I noted impatiently. Trust me; this was not the most comfortable position in the world. I'm sure any other girl would love to be gripped tightly to Atobe Keigo's chiseled chest (And I mean chiseled, you could feel it through his shirt. I may not like him but I have to admit he is _very fit_. Tennis did him well.) but I am not any other girl and when you factor in the fact he just announced I was his _girlfriend _to the now fuming fangirls surrounding us – literally, fuming, I could almost see the steam coming out of their ears – this was not the best situation to be in. And now that my brain has finally gotten a hold of my tongue, I decided to tell him as much.

But the second my eyes met his he gave me a look that left no room for argument. Like that look my mom gave me when I broke her hundred year old vase trying to open my Christmas presents early and tried to pass it off as Santa Claus falling on it on his way down the chimney. And, like that time with my mom, I swallowed my tongue before he could cause any more bodily harm on me, involuntarily or not.

He looked at me one last time and, figuring I had agreed to his silent plea to shut up, turned to the fangirls and spoke to them in his trademark drawl. _Oh, how I hated that drawl!_

"Now, ladies, I guess I'll be seeing you at practice in a bit. I have some _business _to attend to with my _girlfriend._"A sharp look was shot towards me as he said girlfriend. He even had the audacity to say 'business' as if it implied something!

I shoved him brusquely with my free hand that got stuck between us when he pulled me towards him. He ignored my futile struggling. Thoroughly pissed the situation, I couldn't resist the urge to pinch him with my freshly manicured talons. I smirked as I saw him visibly wince.

In a second, he had let go of my arm and I thought I was finally free until he pulled me so tightly by the waist I thought my ribs were going to crack. With a curt nod to his fangirls, he hustled me away a few hallways until he pulled open the door to the student council room, which was thankfully empty, and finally let me catch my breath. Letting go of me, he took a few steps back and looked out the window with a direct view at the tennis courts.

This was my chance to run, I thought. But before that, I had something I had to do.

I took a deep breath and screamed. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF KAMI-SAMA WAS THAT, YOU ASSHOLE?"

He looked at me with a wide-eyed stare and stepped towards me, relaxing a little as he started speaking. "Look, Takashina, about that." He sighed. "Ore-sama can explain, it's no big deal."

That was the last straw.

I reveled in the feel of my fist connecting with his jaw – even if I was aiming for his nose – as he stumbled backwards. I didn't wait for him to recover as I turned around and wrenched open the door. One step out of the doorway and he had an iron-clad grip on my arm. _Great, matching sets of bruises on my arm._

"Let go." I demanded, my voice dripping with contempt.

"No." I twitched.

"We'll see about that." This was the only time I had ever been thankful that I packed my biology book. That satisfying 'smack' of my book bag against his head made me thank the heavens that my wild flail actually landed.

In shock, his grip on my arm loosened just enough for me to yank it out of his reach and hightail it out of there.

* * *

By the time I actually thought to look back to see if he was there, I was already on the first floor. Sighing in relief, I had arrived at the gate when a high-pitched set of squeals caught my attention. Turning back slowly in fear, I saw the reason why Atobe couldn't catch up to my meager running skills hanging off his arms. The fangirls swarmed around him, all whining about how he couldn't have gotten a girlfriend like _her. _Her obviously being me. But hey, there was nothing wrong with me. Just because I wasn't worshipping the ground the tennis club walked on and didn't spend the entire morning trying to pretty myself up for the oh-so momentous event of tennis club practice doesn't mean they can refer to me as something akin to gum on their Prada shoes.

Scoffing at their general stupidity, I took advantage of their distracted state and walked as fast as I could in the opposite direction without tripping before they noticed I was there.

The next day, I woke up and rued going to school. Simply because going to school meant meeting Yuushi, meeting Yuushi meant him bringing up the thing with Atobe, which would consequently attract the attention of the female population within a 10 meter radius, which would ultimately equal to chaos and harassment on my person.

Sighing dejectedly, I took the long way to school with that equation in mind.

I was at least happy that I had enough sleep last night to face the hell that is school. Deciding earlier on that Atobe was nothing to lose sleep over, I dropped into my warm, welcoming bed and dozed off with dreams of cheeseburgers and fries.

Feeling my stomach grumble, I grimaced at the fact that I hadn't had breakfast because I had forgotten to buy groceries. Hoping to get to school before the morning bread rush and grab myself some soba bread or something, I picked up my pace and regretted taking the long route to school.

* * *

Surprisingly, I got to the cafeteria before anyone else and bought myself a whole bag of different kinds of bread. I was on my way to the roof to eat in comfortable solitude whenthe last person I wanted to see on the face of the planet showed up and refused to let me through. To top it all off, he stole my bread!

I repeatedly clenched and unclenched the hand that was just a few seconds ago holding a bag full of bread in shock. Glaring, my heated emerald orbs snapped up to meet his icy blue ones as he stared down at me expressionlessly.

"I don't want to talk to you, Atobe." I said icily.

He shrugged and dangled the bag just out of my reach. I wasn't small per se, but he was definitely taller. "But ore-sama wants to talk to you."

"I'm sorry the feeling isn't mutual," I said with biting sarcasm. "Give it back."

He raised an eyebrow at me and I mirrored the action.

"I will, but first," he leaned closer and I thought he was going to kiss me again. My fists clenched in anticipation. "I have a proposition for you."

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_**Well, there it was! I think I could have done better with the pacing but I'm generally satisfied with this. I hope you liked it!**_

_**I have made the decision to update at least every three weeks, so wish me luck!**_

_**Read and Review, please!**_


	3. Deal or No Deal

**_Enjoy!_**  


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The first thing that came to mind was 'no.' And I said as much. He did not appreciate it.

"What did you say?" He said, scowling.

"No." I repeated flatly. "What are you? Deaf?"

His scowl deepened. "Ore-sama hopes this is worth the trouble." I heard him mutter under his breath.

I clucked my tongue at him. "You may be deaf, buddy, but I'm not. So, if you're not sure if this – whatever the hell _this _is – is worth the trouble, drop it and save us all the grief."

"Just listen." He ordered. I mirrored his scowl.

"No means no. I will not listen to you." I heard my stomach growl. "And I want my bread back."

We stood there for what seemed like hours, glaring at each other ferociously until we heard the morning bell in the distance. Atobe started to look apprehensive.

I smirked. "We can't have the student council president getting late now, can we?"

After one last scowl, he relented and shoved my bread at me. I took it smugly. "You're lucky you're a girl and ore-sama is a gentleman." He drawled, turning his back to me. _What kind of gentleman turns his back on a lady? _"What kind of girl eats that much in the morning anyway?"

"You misogynistic ass!" I shouted after him.

He laughed, the sound echoing in the empty hall. I wasn't sure if I was thankful that this floor was such a far-flung area that only held storage closets. If there were more people, this thing would be completely out of the water and that egoistic jerk wouldn't bother me anymore.

"If you don't hurry up ore-sama is going to give you a detention." He called from the end of the hall, back still facing me with his hands in his pockets. The perfect picture of cool nonchalance.

I had an internal debate on whether I should throw something at him. Realizing the only thing I had on me was a bag of bread, I concluded he would be an absolute waste of food and proceeded to stuff the aforementioned pastry into my mouth.

* * *

Fangirl. Chaos. Yuushi. Three words that describe what happened to me when I yanked the door to my classroom open.

_Atobe. _One word that describes why everything happened to me.

Let's start with _fangirl: _

I stepped into the classroom and was greeted by one – very violently. Like, practically strangled me with the way she pulled my shirt. Then, she proceeded to bombard me with questions that, at the rate she was going in that whiney voice of hers, were incomprehensible.

Next _chaos:_

What started out as one fangirl soon became every freaking girl in my class. And even some guys. I didn't stop to think why they were crowding me, too. Bad thoughts. If one person asking me a barrage of questions was bad enough, how about thirty! Not to mention Fangirl #1 was still strangling me with my shirt collar.

And _Yuushi:_

Oh, heaven-sent Yuushi. Yuushi who came in from the door behind me and put his arm around my shoulders while peeling of Fangirl #1's hand from their death grip on my shirt with his other hand. I smiled uneasily at him as he gave me his best lady-killer smirk – which one could actually believe could really kill ladies at the rate the fangirls were turning to mush.

"Now, let's sort this out _peacefully._" He drawled in that sexy Kansai accent of his which effectively shut everyone up. "So, Mai-hime, tell us, are you dating Atobe?"

And finally, _ATOBE, _the reason for everything bad that happened to me from now on:

"No." I answered bluntly.

Yuushi looked slightly taken aback by my answer. "Really?" He asked.

I nodded. "Really." The people around us looked confused.

"Well, I guess I never really thought you liked him. Or even talked to him." Yuushi said.

I nodded vigorously.

"But I really saw sparks fly when I saw you two staring at each other in the hallway this morning. There's no need to hide it you know, if you're really dating Atobe."

My lower jaw promptly detached itself from its partner as it now rested at my feet.

_Sparks were definitely flying! Just not the way you think they were! _

So, apparently, our little glaring match looked like we were enraptured by each other. I resisted the urge to retch.

I sputtered incoherently at his statement. Yuushi really thought I was dating his best friend! He was my only hope! Even my friends were staring at me expectantly. What did Atobe tell him?

Before I could correlate yesterday's events to him, the teacher stepped in and ordered us all back to our seats. As I trudged abjectly to my seat, I could feel glares burning holes into the back of my head. Much like how it felt yesterday when I fell out of the closet when Ato – Ahhhh! Bad thoughts!

I dropped my head on my desk with a load 'thump,' making the ones next to me jump in their seats.

"Takashina-san," I gulped and raised my head to look at the slightly irritated teacher. "Would you like to tell us the answer to this question or have you effectively knocked it out of your brain?"

I answered it coolly. The teacher had nothing else to say and proceeded to ignore me the rest of the class, leaving me to wallow in my complete annoyance with our dear student council president.

* * *

The moment I dreaded came just as the last bell of the day sounded. When I look back on that moment, I could swear it sounded a lot like a dirge.

Yuushi didn't say much to me the rest of the day, just smiled at me encouragingly a few times whenever he noticed the fangirls glaring in my direction. I tried to talk to him, my friends didn't want to listen to my explanation and just kept congratulating me on '_such a good catch,' _and I had hoped that he would listen to me at least. But every single time I tried to talk to him, he was dragged away by his tennis club friends and even once by Atobe. He didn't talk to me, thankfully. Although that was mostly because the second I saw him at the door, I ran as fast as I could out the other door, effectively tripping on the way out(hence, the cut on my knee). It wasn't that I was afraid of facing him per se, but at the moment I felt that if we even tried to make conversation, I'd knee him in the crotch. And, while that would prove that I really wasn't dating him, it would give me a heaps load of crap to deal with from the teachers, the fangirls, the tennis club and the rest of the school population that admired him and I didn't think I was ready for that many enemies.

Him, I could take. His fangirls, I'm not so sure. I mean, even he can't take them! And they're on his side!

Anyway, back to my dreaded moment…

"Mai-chan," My classmate, Haginosuke Taki, who also happened to be in the tennis club, called me. He was a nice guy. That is all he will ever be. We went out in second year but, while it was nice and all, it just didn't quite work. We were still friends, though. Seriously.

"Yeah?" I excused myself from my friends who leered at me as I left. They just couldn't get that we were completely over him. "What is it?"

He looked down awkwardly and handed me a folded piece of paper, still not meeting my eyes. I took it from him and stared at it for a second before looking at him again, seeing my friends looking on interestedly behind him. I looked around and saw that a few of my other classmates were staring at us as well. I shrugged, figuring that my situation couldn't really get any worse at this point, and unfolded the paper. I initially found that the handwriting was too neat to be a boy's but it was pretty obvious that it came from _him_. I mean I could practically feel the ego seeping out of the words as I read them.

_Meet me at the roof. Now._

_P.S._

_Don't try to escape. Haginosuke's taking you there by any means necessary._

I looked at Taki expressionlessly before I walked over to my desk and grabbed my bag. I walked out of the room wordlessly, trying to contain my irritation, as a distressed Taki followed close behind me. I was not going to run away this time.

_Who did he think he was?_ I seethed. And I did not mean Taki. With the way he was, I wondered what means he could even manage to use to get me there.

"Mai-chan," He called after me repeatedly.

Sighing, I turned slightly to face him once I calmed down a bit. "Taki, I'm going. You don't need to follow me."

He scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Buchou told me not to leave you alone until I was sure you were with him."

"Aren't you sure that I'm on my way there, Taki?" I tried, putting on my best 'cute' face. He blushed slightly but still shook his head.

"Sorry, Mai-chan. Atobe-san can be pretty harsh."

I sighed for the umpteenth time that day and nodded. "He can be pretty stupid, too." I muttered darkly.

Taki looked like he was trying hard not to laugh but I could see the sides of his mouth turn up. We talked amiably the rest of the way to the roof. Taki tactfully avoided the topic of his captain. He had always been a considerate guy.

When we finally arrived at the door leading to the rooftop, he stopped. I paused with my hand on the door.

"Now, I'm sure that you're going to meet him." He said, leaning on the wall. "But just in case, I'll stay here until you go out."

I smiled at him. "Well, Taki, thanks."

He cocked his head to the side inquiringly. "What for?"

"For not asking why the hell I'm here." I stated, pushing the door open harshly. With one last parting smile, I shut the door behind me.

* * *

"You took long enough." I heard a very irritating voice say as I shut the door.

Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the railing he was leaning against. He smirked at me as I reclined next to him.

"Before anything, ore-sama would like to take this." He said as he pulled my bag out my hand and set it down next to him.

"_Baka._" I muttered.

"That book of yours did some damage, ore-sama has a bump on ore-sama's head from our previous encounter." He stated coolly.

I scoffed. "Well, I'm sorry to have injured your beautiful head, Your Headness – I mean Assness."

His smirk widened as I blatantly insulted him. Maybe I did cause some brain damage. I looked at him weirdly.

"You're here because ore-sama wants to proposition you."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Here we go again with this whole proposition thing. I'm starting to sound like some kind of hooker."

"A request, then." Atobe drawled.

"Look, Atobe. I don't want to have anything to do with you."

"And that's why you're the only that can do this."

I stared at him blankly. "I have half a mind to ask what 'this' is but the other half is telling me that you're going to tell me even if I don't ask so get on with it."

At that point, wiping of that pompous smirk of his head via book bag was very enticing.

"Be my girlfriend. Or rather, pretend to be my girlfriend."

You probably couldn't see my eyebrows with how high they shot up into my hairline. Once they had returned to their original position, I spoke to him slowly, wondering about the extent of brain damage a really heavy book could cause to a person. "I think you and I both know the answer to that is no."

"Arn," he drawled amusedly. "You're a girl, aren't you?"

"If I say I'm a guy will you leave me alone?" I deadpanned.

He chuckled. "You can try but I don't think that's enough to threaten ore-sama's sexuality."

Cue immaturely sticking tongue out.

"Back to the point, don't you ever read those shoujo manga where the popular guy pretends to date someone to get annoying girls of his back?"

There was absolutely no modesty to this guy, it was pretty obvious who the popular guy in this analogy was. So that left me as the girl he pretends to date. I tilted my head as Taki did earlier. "Are you telling me _you _read those shoujo manga where the popular guy pretends to date someone to get annoying girls of his back?" I asked as innocently as possible.

Atobe glared at me. "No, ore-sama doesn't but the idea has been presented to ore-sama in the same format. Focus. So, do you?"

"For your sake, I hope the one that presented the idea to you knew what they were getting into." Before he could respond to that, I continued. "And yeah, I've read a few. What about it? I am not interested in being 'the girl the popular guy pretends to date to get others of his back.'"

"It'll only be until graduation in a few months. After that, we'll be off to university and we won't have to see each other again."

"No. I get nothing out of this. How are you even so sure that it'll work?" I retorted. "And why should I agree anyway? You kiss me against my will in front of a murderous audience, announce something that is completely unfounded, you steal my bread and my book bag and somehow managed to convince Yuushi that we're really dating!"

"Then, you do get something out of this. You tolerate ore-sama until graduation and ore-sama will do one thing for you." He said in that infernal drawl of his. "And ore-sama knows that this will at least discourage them."

"No matter how humiliating?" I was starting to feel his desperation.

"Within reason." He said.

I frowned. So much for having him streak naked…

"And if I can't tolerate you until graduation, what then?"

He looked contemplative for a second. "Then you'll never get your revenge on ore-sama and ore-sama will tell ore-sama's fanclub that you hit me. Which you will probably do if you can't tolerate me that long."

I caught my long jet-black hair in between my fingers, twirling them absently as I stared off into the distance. Atobe didn't say anything.

My answer broke the silence which had settled around us. "It's being considered. But, just for the record, you are so not being a man about me hitting you."

Atobe smirked at my answer, cautiously he handed me my bag.

"Business is business." It seemed as if that was really all he needed from me. Some rough equivalent to yes. After that, I was free to go.

I took my bag and sauntered over to the door. Once I had gotten out of his arm's reach I turned back.

"But Atobe, hasn't anyone ever presented to you the idea that the popular guy will always fall for the girl he pretends to date?"

* * *

**_I hoped you liked it!_**

**_Does anyone know what Atobe's dad does for a living?_**

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	4. In My Dreams

I watched long enough to see his eyes widen and then the door clicked into place behind me. I grinned despite the fact that I was currently Atobe Keigo's fake-girlfriend. If he was going to take advantage of the situation, I was going to give him a run for his money. And he had a lot of money.

Feeling entirely too pleased with myself, I turned towards the stairs only to stop when I noticed a smirking tennis player a few steps down.

"So, how did it go, Mai-hime?" He drawled. My brow furrowed, wiping the grin off my face. _I should have known. _"You seem pretty happy."

"_Yuushi._" I moaned in frustration. "You knew about this?"

"He told me about it yesterday at practice. Atobe has this thing about being too high and mighty to ever get his own ice pack and I wasn't about to get him one without knowing what it was for." He shrugged. "Thanks for that, though. I wish I was there to see it happen."

I smirked despite myself. But then I remembered what happened barely five minutes ago. "Is that all you can say, Yuu?" I sighed.

"I think it's a pretty good idea."

"What?" For a second there I thought he said that it was a goo –

"Atobe had a stroke of brilliance there. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Maybe he could've done better asking, though. I am sincerely sorry if he was a jerk about this. And knowing Atobe, he probably was."

If this kept up, the number of times my jaw unhinged itself would be terribly unhealthy. "A-a-a-a-a g-good idea?" I stammered.

Yuushi walked over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders affectionately. The position somehow led my train of thought astray. _Yuushi isn't my type but at this point, dating him is better than fake-dating the guy who sexually harassed you. But, wait. Is this considered sexual harassment?_

"I don't think so, Mai-hime." He said, suddenly amused. I didn't even realize I was walking, his arm still around my shoulders.

At this point, I was thoroughly confused. Again. Atobe was really detrimental to my health. This thing was beginning to cause some serious brain atrophy.

It would seem Yuushi noticed I was at a loss, because he chuckled a bit and looked forward, elaborating. "I don't think you can say that I'm sexually harassing you because you most definitely do _not _look harassed." He winked at me. Of all the things that happened, I just had to say that out loud...

Rolling my eyes at his usual behaviour, I nudged him a bit, making him face me. "Remind me why me fake-dating your best friend is a good idea."

"Well, Mai-chan, on the topic of harassment, we are very _harassed. _I'm flattered and all by the heaps of attention but you have to give a guy a break, you know. If we're 'dating' someone, our _dear_ fangirls would back off a bit." He smirked at me. "In theory." He added.

"Why me, though?" I whined. There were so many girls Atobe could've asked that would've been happy to play along.

He grasped my shoulder warmly. "For one, you're not a fangirl. That's the most important part. After all, this wouldn't serve its purpose if we were fake-dating someone we were trying to avoid."

After one last pat on my back, he released his hold on me and stretched his arms above his head. I was seriously considering learning tennis, seeing Yuushi's lean physique as his muscles rippled when he stretched...but there was no way I could do tennis. I was more likely to whack my head with the racquet than actually hit the ball.

While I was lost in thought Yuushi started talking again, bringing me back to our previous topic. Curse his distracting physique!

"Also in theory, but slightly more likely, you have cleared his schedule of any omiais(arranged marriage proposals). 'Cause face it Mai-hime, you would be an ace candidate for this kind of thing for... various reasons." He drawled. "Question of curiosity: Why'd you say yes?"

I didn't even have to think about that one. "Revenge, mostly. He'll suffer one way or another in this arrangement and I am completely looking forward to enjoying every moment of suffering I can manage to cause him." I grinned evilly. I could've sworn Yuushi shuddered, just then. "And I suppose I'm open to the experience of fake-dating a guy who has been voted the hottest guy in school, even if it's probably wholly overrated."

"When did you get so scary?" He chuckled. I thought I could hear a strain in his throat. I grinned.

With a slight shrug, I said, "A little longer with that guy and I'll be pulling helicopters out of the sky."

"Are you sure you're not just playing hard to get?" He raised his eyebrow in mock-suggestive-ness. I could tell even _he _didn't believe that.

I cocked an eyebrow, looking at him dryly. "Seriously, Yuushi?"

He laughed and shook his head. "I think you will have fun dating him."

"_Fake-_dating." I emphasized.

"Sorry. You'll have fun _fake-_dating him, then. Be nice to him." Yuushi smirked.

"You're talking to the girl who just said that she agreed to date him to make him suffer." I stated amusedly, my eyebrow still raised.

His smirk widened. "You know what I mean."

"Not at all." I stuck my tongue out at him playfully. "Never mind me being nice to him, what about him being nice to me?"

"He'll be nice. You know how he is."

"Not nice?"

"He may be a jerk, but he's a nice jerk. He grows on you...eventually."

"Like a leech." I deadpanned. Yuushi laughed at the thought of his captain being compared to a blood-sucking parasite.

"Don't worry about it, Mai-hime." He stopped at the corner. "This is my stop. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." I waved him off as he turned away. A thought struck me. "Wait."

He stopped abruptly and turned his head to face me. "What if your theory turns out to be wrong?"

A boyish grin broke out on his face. "I told you, Mai-chan, don't worry about it. I'll be around if you ever need my help." With that parting sentence, he winked at me and went on his way.

His attempts at flirting with me had long since turned into a typical event in my day-to-day life and I chose to brush off the underlying suggestive-ness in the things Yuushi said. I rolled my eyes, a small smile plastered on my face.

_Let the games begin._

_

* * *

_

Woah. Whoah. _Whoah._

_Where did that come from?_

I jerked upright in bed, looking around dazedly. From what it said on my alarm clock it was about an hour before I usually got up for school. I shook my head, trying to remember why I was so disoriented.

_Right. _I thought, remembering my dream. Now, _that_ was weird. It wasn't exactly a nightmare per se but it was a bad dream in some aspects. I think my mind is forever scarred.

After that kind of a rude awakening, there was no way I was going to get back to sleep...lest I dreamt of it again. Pushing my sheets aside, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and decided to some advanced homework. I usually wasn't so eager about schoolwork but if the brain melting effect helped me clear my head of bad thoughts, it was welcome. I couldn't stand not having anything to do.

I'd had enough brain melting after about half an hour and just got up to get ready for school. It occurred to me to practice that piano piece I've been wanting to learn but I decided to save that for when I got home. I took my time making breakfast after a nice long shower but when I was done I was still a little over half an hour early from the time I usually left for school.

I sighed and slipped my shoes on, deciding there was no harm in being early.

* * *

It was a ghost town, unsurprisingly. And I wandered around after I dropped my bag off until I came upon a window that opened out to the tennis courts. I stood there for a second, thinking about the view from the student council room for some reason. Then my dream came back and plagued my mind. I groaned and leaned my head on the window pane.

Sighing, I meandered over to a familiar place.

I didn't actually count on him being there when I got in but he was and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be happy or not because his presence before me really summoned some unpleasant feelings to the surface. Whether the unpleasant feelings came from being his fake-girlfriend or my strange dream, I wasn't exactly sure. I think it was a little bit of both really.

He looked up as I slid the door open completely and a broad smirk spread across his face. I regretted putting my book bag down.

"Miss ore-sama already?" He drawled, tapping his pencil on the paperwork on his desk. I noticed that it was a lot of paperwork.

I rolled my eyes at him dismissively. "Whatever you say, Atobe. But I have to admit I do miss the feeling of my fist colliding with your jaw."

His jaw tightened at the mention of that incident and I smirked. "Ore-sama thinks you just miss the feeling of your skin against mine."

The smirk on my face was replaced by an acute scowl but before I was able to answer he started talking again. "Sit down and try to make yourself useful." He said, motioning to a stack of files with his pencil.

"Slacking off on your work, President?" I drawled, sitting down anyway. He just looked up at me dully after muttering something that sounded something like 'You wish.'

There was nothing else to do and I was open to some work. I made myself comfortable on a seat in front of his desk and stared at the pile. "What do you want me to do with these?"

"Just sort them by topic."

"Alright." I shrugged and began going through the paperwork. "Are you sure you should be letting little-ole-me touch your important papers?"

He gave me a sideways glance but didn't bother to raise his head. "If you're anything, you're smart. Well, at least that's what ore-sama's heard. Is it true?" He drawled.

At the beginning of that sentence I thought he was sincerely complimenting me. I thought wrong. "No." I deadpanned and returned to sorting the papers in front of me. After a few minutes of silence, he slid a slip of paper towards me.

"What's this?" I asked, unfolding it cautiously and seeing a bunch of numbers scribbled on.

"Ore-sama's cell numbers and e-mail. Ore-sama figured ore-sama's _girlfriend _should have them."

Huffing, I stuffed the paper into the pocket of my cardigan and glared at his word choice. "_Fake-_girlfriend." I emphasized, mimicking his drawl. "And am I supposed to take this as a hint to give you my number?"

He shrugged and fingered through the papers until he found one and set the others aside, gathering the papers I was working on as well. "No need, ore-sama already has it."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Who gave it to you?"

"Your file did." He said coolly, dangling a paper with my contact details printed on it.

I gasped in shock. "You checked my file!" I exclaimed. "How did you get my file?"

He shrugged again, I (tried to) ignore the way I could see his muscles ripple underneath his shirt. "Ore-sama has a copy of it over there," He motioned to the filing cabinets next to his desk. "And on my laptop."

"You stalker!"

"Ore-sama is the student council president. Ore-sama is allowed to check student files...with good reason, of course." He smirked at me. _The pompous ass..._

Folding my arms across my chest, I glared straight into his cool blue eyes, reminiscent of yesterday morning. Only now, there was no one to misunderstand the situation. "What good reason could you possibly have had to have the teachers let you check my file?"

His smirked widened. "A history of violence."

I gaped at him. "What the hell?"

"It worked, didn't it?" He propped his elbow up on the table and placed his head on his palm.

"You better be joking," I threatened. "I can hit you, you know."

He chuckled at that. "Yeah, you can. Don't worry about it, your reputation is safe. There aren't going to be any fangirls on your tail for hitting ore-sama."

"I call a foul. They're already on my tail for being your 'girlfriend.'" I scowled at him.

That only served to make him chuckle more. "Don't worry about it." He said and I suddenly remembered Yuushi.

"Yuushi said the same thing yesterday." I said, sighing. "But I think I have every reason to be worried when I've just been involved in a mess orchestrated by you."

He disregarded my last sentence and kept on staring at me from the other side of the desk. "You seem very close to Oshitari." He stated.

"Was that in my file, too?" I retorted. He shook his head coolly.

"Ore-sama saw you two walking together all chummy-like after we talked on the roof. Do you like him or something?"

I snorted. "Yuushi is not my type. We've just been friends since sixth grade. He used to be my neighbour and we walked to school together often but never have I actually _liked _him." Thinking of Yuushi immediately made me think of my dream last night. I looked away from Atobe discreetly before I started laughing.

"So, Oshitari's not your type, arn? Then who is?" He drawled haughtily at me.

"Not you." I said simply, rolling my eyes at him.

"You amuse ore-sama."

"I'm glad the feeling isn't mutual." He smirked. "But since we're on the topic of Yuushi, I have a few questions for you."

He straightened up in his seat and then leaned back. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Well, so I had a dream about you last night." The second those words left my mouth, I knew I shouldn't have said it that way.

Atobe raised his eyebrow at me. "So, you were dreaming about me, arn?"

"Yes, meeting you was so traumatic that your presence now haunts my nightmares. Shut up and let me continue." He shrugged. "Why are you fake-dating me?"

"Ore-sama thought ore-sama already told you that. Even Oshitari explained it to you."

I tilted my head in curiosity then went in for the kill. "Exactly. Are you gay and masking your secret relationship with Yuushi by fake-dating me?"

I watched as he went livid at my question. The expression on his face was almost comical. Scratch that, it was downright hilarious. "Is that what you dreamt about?" He exclaimed in what I could only assume was outrage. He was twitching madly.

"Pretty much, and I have to say it was very disturbing. My mind will never be the same again." I said forlornly, trying really hard not to laugh at him. Now, that I've actually confronted Atobe about it the dream seemed awfully funny. Especially since he's the one that brought the whole Yuushi thing up in the first place.

He composed himself and settled back into his seat. "You're crazy." He said calmly. "If you'd like, ore-sama can you show you just how straight ore-sama is."

In response to his version of Yuushi's lady-killer smirk, I laughed outright, no longer able to contain the bubbles of laughter. "I don't know how you'd be able to do that and no, kissing me again will not work. Hell will freeze over before I let you kiss me like that again."

I was starting to think I'd have a lot of fun pretending to date him if he reacted this comically to everything. It was a plus that he was pretty hot but that did nothing to lessen how much of an ass he was. "You know, ore-sama thinks we can get along as long as you never mention that again."

Shrugging, I smiled as the morning bell rang. _Saved by the bell again. _"I'm not making any promises, Atobe. Let's make this fake-thing interesting."

"Keigo," He called out.

I stopped with my hand on the door. "Huh?"

"Call me Keigo, Mai. After all, we're dating, aren't we?" He said in his signature way, the drawl and smirk. I guess he's recovered from the shock of my question.

Pulling the door open, I laughed dryly. "Not really, Atobe."

* * *

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	5. Practice Makes Perfect

**_Sorry it's late! I have been trying to post this for DAYS but there's a glitch that has been really annoying._**

**_Enjoy!  
_**

* * *

So, I wasn't sure what to expect the rest of the day after my meeting with Atobe in the Student Council room. Especially after my whole 'are you gay?' thing but I was prepared to defend myself. As long as it did not actually involve physical defending because then I'd be pummelled.

With that in mind, the day was pretty much a letdown. I was _completely _ready for a (verbal) confrontation that never came. It went on normally, I had lunch with my friends, Yuushi left to go find his tennis friends and Taki pretended that nothing happened between me and his captain even though it felt as if he was suffering through an unasked question the whole day. The thing about Yuushi was, though, that when he came back after break he had such a big smirk on that I thought it would split his face. I was afraid to ask why but I guessed Atobe told him about our...conversation this morning.

I immediately regretted my previous disappointed train of thought when Yuushi promptly walked up to me just as the last bell rang. As usual, my friends parted like the Red Sea as he passed. The tennis club regulars were some kind of royalty at this school. I sighed inwardly, preparing myself to face the music.

"Atobe wants me to make sure you go to practice." He said, his face-splitting smirk from earlier was on his face again.

I grimaced. _I liked my day ordinary. I take it all back! _"Why?" The angle we were standing hid my less than happy face at my _boyfriend _inviting me to practice.

"He said," Yuushi started. "And this is straight from the horse's mouth – "

"More like the horse's ass," I grumbled just loud enough for Yuushi to hear. He bit back a laugh.

"He refuses to be associated with anyone that knows nothing about tennis. Thus, he decreed that you must learn." He finished with a haughty tilt of the head just as Atobe would. I chuckled curtly.

Looking at him, I smiled. "Or he could just break up with me." I said quietly. From the corner of my eye, I could see my friends leaning in to hear our conversation.

My glasses wearing companion smiled and moved to take my bag which was hanging on my seat. "Unlikely," he stated. I placed my hand on top of his to stop him. He looked up at me, questioning.

"I'll follow you there in a few minutes, Yuu. I just have some things to do." I was being completely honest. I _would _follow and I _did _have something to do. I wasn't eager to go at all but I figured Atobe would send someone to actually look for me if I stayed on campus and wansn't at practice which he so _kindly _invited me to. My 'something to do' involved Sakaki-sensei, after all, the coach of the club. He'd understand.

Yuushi shook his head with a suspicious smile. "It's not that I don't trust you, Mai-hime, but I'll be taking your bag hostage if you don't need it." Saying that, he hoisted my book bag over his shoulder along with his own and took his tennis bag in his free arm. "You won't be needing it, right?"

Rolling my eyes at him playfully, I shook my head.

"Good, I'll be seeing you in a few minutes." He turned into the hallway and left.

I turned around to see my friends grinning like crazy people. Before they could interrogate me, I shielded myself with my hands comically. "I'm going to tennis practice."

I let the news sink in and the gushing and fangirling began. In the midst of it all, I took my leave and headed to where Sakaki-sensei was.

* * *

The practice rush emptied the hallways as usual. I saw Sakaki-sensei just as he exited the faculty room. Running, I stumbled to a stop in front of him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, sensei! I got held up in the classroom." I explained myself and he simply nodded. "What did you call me for, sensei?"

He reached into his coat pocket and handed me an envelope. I looked up at him for an explanation. "I thought you might be interested. It's an application form for a music competition that will take place in two months. I remembered you play the piano." He elaborated with a small smile. _Of course you remember I play the piano, you taught me how to play_, I thought amusedly. It was a long time ago and he wasn't my tutor anymore but he got me started.

"Thank you very much, sensei." I said sincerely. It'd been a while since I'd joined a competition but I'd never slacked off on practicing.

"One more thing," Sakaki-sensei added. "The winner gets to perform in London, England."

At his words, my mouth broke out into a face-splitting grin to rival Yuushi's smirk from earlier. I looked at him and then at the envelope in my hands. He returned my grin with a small smile of his own. Did I forget to mention that he had a small soft spot for me?

"I'll work hard, sensei." I said, determined.

He nodded. "I expect you to." He turned and walked towards the tennis courts. Sheepishly, I followed as well. After all, I _did _tell Yuushi I'd follow.

He took one look at me and I could've sworn that renowned tennis club smirk showed up on his face, if only for a second. "Is there anything else?"

I shook my head and stated the obvious, for lack of anything better to say. "I'm just going in the same direction."

"Have you joined the tennis club?" He asked coolly.

Grimace. "Not at all, sensei. Atobe just commanded me to watch the team practice."

"Because you're dating, right?" My head snapped up towards him and I was sure that that face he used back when he taught me piano(he and my dad were classmates) made a reappearance.

"Has it reached even you?" I asked wearily.

He pulled on the lapels of his coat and I wondered if teachers subscribed to student gossip as well. "Word gets around. On a similar note, try to keep from injuring my team's captain."

My eyes widened. "You heard about that, too?" I asked, tentatively. I didn't know what I'd do if he actually didn't know what happened between us and was just giving me a precursory warning.

"Atobe's drawl carries." He said, his voice laced with amusement. That sent me into a fit of chuckles as he explained how he heard Atobe talking to Yuushi the other day and when he finished with that, went on to tell me the details of my competition.

* * *

I'd never actually been to a Hyotei tennis club practice in my life so the sheer size of the crowd spread out around the courts was shocking. I lost sight of Sakaki-sensei when we neared the courts as I was dragged, mauled and trampled on. _How am I supposed to watch from a mile away, _I thought wryly.

A few minutes into being carried away by the crowd, a hand clasped onto my forearm and pulled, keeping me from being taken further. It allowed me to catch my breath before I faced my saviour.

"Thanks," I said. Looking up, I saw a familiar blue baseball cap. "Shishido."

He shrugged and started walking, hand still grasping my arm. "Atobe told me to get you."

I groaned as he started weaving through the crowd with me in tow, pulling me next to him to avoid the crush of people. "What's with you people and harassment," I noted with an exasperated smile. He simply glared at me from under his cap and kept walking. "Are there always this many people?"

He shook his head slightly and I breathed a sigh of relief. "They'll thin out in few weeks...few months tops."

I looked at the people crushing us and groaned. "Welcome to the tennis club," He said deprecatingly as we entered the courts. I could see that even he didn't quite appreciate the people grabbing at him every five seconds. I always thought the tennis guys revelled in the attention they were given. _New information, _I thought.

He led me into the main area where the courts were and I noticed that the only ones around the area were the tennis club members. Taki waved at me from across the court. I smiled at him before Shishido pulled me towards a bench and told me to sit. Once I did, he sat next to me and grabbed his tennis bag from under the bench. Pulling of his cap, he looked at me.

"So, you're the girlfriend." He stated matter-of-factly, suddenly pulling his shirt over his head. _Abs. _But I was not to be distracted.

I shrugged, looking at him coolly and suppressed the urge to give a flat-out 'no'. "So, you're the teammate." He got a shirt from his bag and threw it on.

He replaced his cap and laughed. "In some twisted way I think you two are meant for each other."

I nudged him as hard as I could, he smiled. "He'll be around in a few minutes. Until then, you're stuck with me. He seems to think that you might just run off or something when no one's watching you."

Unable to keep it in anymore, I grimaced. Shishido laughed harder. "Yeah, I know about your thing with him. I was just playing with you."

At the rate this was going, I wondered if the entire school knew that I wasn't really dating him. "It makes me wonder where this fake-relationship is going if everyone of you guys seem to know that we're _not really dating._"

"It's just me and Oshitari. 'Cause I ended up getting his ice pack the other day, Oshitari...had his hands full. Nice one, by the way." I smirked at his compliment, looks like I could count on the regulars on not ostracizing me once they knew I hit Atobe. Eight down, the rest of the school population to go.

That was the first time Shishido had ever been so chatty with me. The longest thing he'd ever said to me before this went, "Takashina, can you get your chair off my foot?" He may have found a kindred spirit in me. I chuckled inwardly. He seemed to immediately revert to a happier disposition once away from all the people and on his home court, literally.

"Where is he anyway? Atobe I mean." I asked, looking around the courts and seeing all the regulars except Atobe and Yuushi.

"Probably talking to Sakaki-sensei." He responded, absently testing the tension of his racquet. "What's up with you and Haginosuke?"

"Huh?" What about Taki?

He tilted his racquet to the left. "He's been looking at us this whole time. Even the other members stopped staring at 'the buchou's girlfriend' ten minutes ago. What's up with him?"

I knew for a fact that Taki was over me...well, probably. "Well, we're friends, I guess. And he knows me enough to wonder why I'd go for Atobe." I tried for a rational answer and it was most likely true. But... "Hold on a second, Shishido." I stood and walked over to where Taki was.

"Why are you staring at us?" I asked bluntly.

Taki gave me a small smile. "You're not the type to end up dating Atobe Keigo." As an afterthought, he added, "And it was out of pure curiosity, you dating him was the last thing I'd thought would happen when he asked me to bring you there...I mean, seriously, I fully expected the rumours to be completely false."

"I know." I said monotonously and sighed. From the tone of voice, I could confirm that he was over me and was generally just in complete shock at the situation. I left him and sat back down next to Shishido.

"He can't believe it." I synthesized.

He snorted and stood up. "Even I wouldn't believe it. I'm getting back to practice. You're escort's here."

I glared at him as he walked towards that really tall second year. The glaring didn't last long, though, because Atobe placed himself in my line of vision. I looked up to glare at him but was inadvertently blinded by the sun directly behind him. I winced.

"Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na." He drawled, smirking...as usual.

"Yep, being blinded by your prowess over here so could you step to your left a little. Thanks." I said sardonically.

He sat down next to me in the spot Shishido just occupied. "Despite your complete lack of athletic ability, you apparently do quite well in everything else. As you can see you can't leave until you learn something."

"I've already learned something." I smiled.

His eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"Does learning you have an ego the size of a supernova count or is that a little too obvious?" I drawled, smile still in place.

* * *

Atobe left me alone on that bench to 'pay attention' as he put it and I was starting to get it a bit. As in a little more than 'they're supposed to be hitting the ball across the net in the center.'

For a while, while Yuushi was taking a break, he sat next to me and did a run-through of the basic rules so I pretty much got that. Surprisingly, tennis practice was a lot more interesting than I expected but there was still no way they could get me to touch a racquet.

Before I knew it practice was over and Atobe was collecting me from my very comfortable bench. "Is it over yet?"

Atobe sighed. "Yes, if you haven't noticed, which ore-sama is sure you have. Didn't think you'd enjoy it so much, did you?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Atobe."

With another sigh, he motioned for me to stand up. "Ore-sama is simply stating a fact. Nevermind that, though, have you considered it?"

I tilted my head at him, picking up my bag which Yuushi so kindly returned to me a before he left to get dressed. "Considered what, Atobe?"

"Keigo."

Piecing things together in my mind, I shook my head. "Didn't think there was much to consider. Why is it so important anyway?"

"It sells our situation a little better." He shrugged before he pulled open the wire gate to the court. He was a lot mellower after practice.

It initially escaped my mind that we were walking out into a den of waiting wolves – wolves with a lot make-up, that is – until I felt the familiar sensation of burning glares into my back. I looked around to see some of the fangirls still waiting around for the regulars. Atobe glanced around as I did and suddenly slung his arm around my shoulders, balancing his bags on his other arm. I looked up at him and grimaced.

"Look happy," He muttered under his breath.

"Pretend we're having a fight." I suggested, finding it difficult to muster a smile.

He glared at nothing in particular before he answered, "If anyone asks, it's your responsibility."

"Yes, sir."

The second we were out of sight and earshot, I peeled his arm off my shoulders. "Your arm's heavy." I whined.

He shrugged. "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

Taken aback, I didn't respond immediately. I racked my brain for my schedule and remembered a few things that Sakaki-sensei told me about the competition. "No, I have to go someplace. What's up?'

"Ore-sama was going to take you out." He stated coolly.

Raising my eyebrow, I folded my arms across my chest. "As in a date?"

He nodded vaguely. "If you say so."

"No, not if I say so. Why do we actually need to date? It's not as if people from school are actually going to verify what we do together. And if they do, we could always just make something up...you know, like our relationship."

Atobe grimaced. "The dates are for my parents. They want proof, receipts, pictures, and the like. They seem to think ore-sama is going to spend the rest of ore-sama's life married to ore-sama's tennis racquet."

I laughed outright. "Well, can't you do just that?" He scowled at me in response.

"When are you free?" He persisted. His parents must be terrors about this.

Thinking about my schedule again, I answered, conceding. "You can have me for all of Sunday, if you're free."

He seemed to think about it for a second. "Sunday, then. Ore-sama will meet you at the train station at eight' o'clock."

"Alright." I sighed, defeated. "I'll see you around, Atobe." Before he could say anything, I raised my hand. "I'll _consider_ it."

He raised his eyebrow at me and proceeded to walk away. "See you around."

I shook my head and started on my way home. _ Here we go._

* * *

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	6. A Weekend of Firsts

It was a good morning for me. No dreams about Atobe, Yuushi, or awkward situations involving Atobe and Yuushi. Getting up, I made myself some breakfast before getting to work on the things for the competition.

I filled up the forms in a matter of minutes and went to work trying to find a few good pieces to play in my library. Time flew quickly enough while I was practicing and I was startled by my phone ringing. The caller ID read Sakaki-sensei so I picked it up eager for more information.

"Are you going later?" Came his no nonsense voice from the other end.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

He chuckled a bit. "Sorry, I forgot you weren't involved in the whole rivalry thing. Anyway, I was just checking up on you. Don't forget your papers. And you need to be there every week, remember? Wednesdays, Thursdays and – "

"Saturdays." I finished. Sometimes Sakaki-sensei reminded me of some kind of uncle. "I remember."

"Good, I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Likewise, sensei." Once I heard the sound of him disconnecting the line, I placed my cell back on the table and turned to look at the clock. I stretched my arms over my head.

_Better start getting ready._

After an hour, I was sitting comfortably on the train, feeling incredibly lucky to have actually gotten a seat in the now crowded compartment. I guessed my current state of happiness was to make up for my day tomorrow with Atobe.

As I got off the train at my stop, I shuffled around in my bag for a piece of paper, hoping I didn't forget it or lose it somewhere. Sighing in relief once my hand closed around it, I brought it out and read the address to myself, looking around the street signs carefully.

I stopped and grinned as I stopped in front of the gate that read _Seishun Gakuen. _I replaced the paper in my bag and stepped through the gates.

I wandered around for a while, completely at a loss as to where I was supposed to go. There were barely any people around the front.

Thankfully, I came across the courts where a couple of teams were practicing. I looked around awkwardly until I spotted a cluster of tennis courts a few meters away. Smiling slightly to myself, I walked over to where a few people in tennis uniforms were standing, watching the current players on the courts.

I watched silently, mentally comparing them to the practice I observed yesterday. It would seem I was pretty obviously not from around here, because within a few minutes of me watching, a guy in uniform came up to me and got my attention.

"Umm, hello, is there something we can help you with?" I observed his motherly demeanor and strange hairstyle, kind of like…bald but with hair. It was just that flat.

Smiling, I nodded. "Actually, I was wondering where I could find Akazawa-sensei. I'm here to talk to him about something."

"Oh, I'll show you there. My name's Oishi, by the way. Oishi Shuuichiro." He extended his hand towards me amiably.

"Takashina Mai. Thanks."

He nodded and called to someone behind him. "Oi, Momo! I'm just going to the faculty room. I'll be back in a few minutes."

The guy he called Momo turned around to look at him, he caught my eye and waved, running over. He put his arm around Oishi in a headlock and grinned. "Oishi-senpai, is this your girlfriend?"

Inwardly, I groaned. I was tired of being people's girlfriend. Composing myself, I extended my hand towards him cordially, amused at the way Oishi was struggling to get out of the headlock while vehemently denying any sort of relationship with me. "Actually, we just met, I'm Takashina Mai."

Sheepishly, he released Oishi and took my hand. "Oh, sorry about the misunderstanding." I shrugged. "Momoshiro Takeshi. Where are you from, Takashina-san? I don't see you around here."

"I'm a third year at Hyotei Gakuen. I had some things to do here." At 'Hyotei Gakuen' the two of them exchanged a look and I remembered the long-standing rivalry of our schools' tennis clubs. "I'd love to talk to you guys but I urgently need to see Akazawa-sensei." It wouldn't do to be late for the meeting.

Oishi snapped to attention. "Of course, I'm sorry about that. Momo just tell them I'll be back in a while."

Momoshiro nodded and waved at me, grinning. I waved back as Oishi took me into the building.

"So, you're from Hyotei?" I nodded. "You know Atobe Keigo, then?" _Unfortunately,_ I thought, nodding again. "You play tennis?"

Shaking my head, I laughed slightly. "I'm horrible at any type of sport, unfortunately."

"Oh," He smiled and nodded in understanding. In no time, he stopped in front of a room and knocked on the door curtly. "This is the place you were looking for, Akazawa-sensei should be around, if I'm not mistaken."

The door opened to reveal a well-groomed middle-aged man, about Sakaki-sensei's age, but he looked the complete opposite of said sensei's austere image. I hazarded that this was the guy I was looking for. It was, as revealed when he took one look at me and clapped me on the shoulder suddenly.

"You must be Takashina-san, Sakaki told me all about you! Oh, and Oishi as well, thank you for bringing her here but I need you for something else. Would you wait here for a few minutes while I talk to our guest?" He said jovially.

Oishi nodded politely and Akazawa-sensei took me inside the room, leading me to his desk. He handed me another set of papers. "Those are the rest of your forms." He started, "Now, I believe my friend Sakaki has told you the schedule of activities."

Nodding, I waited for him to continue. Sakaki-sensei told me his friend could mentor me on my piano-playing until the competition. When I asked why he couldn't do it himself, he reasoned that he didn't have enough time in his schedule with the tennis club and it would be easier with the school administration if someone else did it. I accepted it with no arguments; a new teacher would be fine if Sakaki-sensei suggested it. "I've heard good things about you, I hope we can bring out your potential. Sakaki-sensei said winning this was important to you." I nodded again, smiling. "Well, let's work hard. You're dismissed. I'll see you on Wednesday."

A bit winded by his brisk manner, I bowed politely and stepped out of the room, carefully stuffing the papers into my bag. Oishi was still waiting outside.

As I stepped out, Akazawa-sensei suddenly reappeared behind me with another package which he handed to Oishi. "Kindly give that to your captain, please. Tell him Ryuuzaki-sensei was unavailable so she asked me to receive it for her."

With a brisk nod, he closed the door behind him and Oishi and I started on our way out of the building. "Do you mind if I watch practice, Oishi-san?"

He looked shocked but he recovered quickly. "No, that would be great. As long as you don't intend on spying on us or something like that." He laughed.

"I wouldn't dare." I chuckled.

He led me out into the courts again and we chatted amiably. He seemed to notice something in the distance, "Come on, Takashina-san, I'll introduce you to our captain."

Somehow, I was excited to see Atobe's rival, as the gossip around school was quite interesting about them. "Tezuka, this is Takashina Mai-san, she's from Hyotei. Takashina-san, this is our captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"Yoroshiku," I greeted, he nodded an acknowledgement. _A man of few words_, I figured. He was good-looking, kind of stiff, but he had the same lean body the rest of the regulars at Hyotei had with a face to match. He was Atobe's rival in more things than one, I laughed mentally.

"I hope you don't mind me hovering while you practice."

He shook his head, arms crossed. "Not at all, make yourself comfortable."

And I did. Oishi brought me around, introducing me to all the regulars. They all seemed pretty interested in talking to me after they found out I was from Hyotei and I knew about the tennis club. I was tempted to tell them there was no one from Hyotei that _didn't _know about the tennis club. This Fuji guy reminded me of Yuushi, strangely enough, probably because I could feel the conniving aura Yuushi had surrounding him as well. Echizen Ryoma, a first year, didn't hold back on telling me how he beat Atobe a while back and I listened intently for blackmail material. They also had their own Mukahi Gakuto, red hair and all the acrobatics, he was fun, Eiji. They all seemed nice enough, the guy who kept hissing and the other guy who kept calculating things to himself kind of freaked me out for a few minutes, but they were nice, too, once I got to talk to them. There was another third year who came in a little late and I overheard that he helps out at his family's sushi restaurant. _Yum. _I told Oishi about how I'd be around a few times a week and he didn't hesitate to invite me to watch practice whenever I was free. I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation; this tennis thing was growing on me, fast. And even if I didn't like it, I had Atobe to thank for that.

Tezuka was cool. He was surprisingly easy to be around despite his apparent lack of social interaction skills. And unsurprisingly, he was good. No wonder he was Atobe's rival (after Echizen, as Momohiro volunteered as said cat-eyed regular was telling me about their encounters). Atobe was an ass but he was good at what he did and he could back up his boastful statements with real talent which really just made him that much more annoying.

Remembering Atobe reminded me of our _fake-date _tomorrow and I checked my watch to see that it was late afternoon. The Seigaku guys were just lying around now, getting ready to go so I ambled over to Tezuka and Oishi(who turned out to be vice-captain).

"I'll be going back, now. Thanks for letting me stay. And thanks for the offer; I'll come by next week."

Oishi smiled widely. "It was nothing."

"It was nice meeting you."

"You, too." Tezuka nodded.

Momoshiro and Eiji shouted their own good-byes as I left.

_Now, _I sighed. _Let the first __**fake**_**-**_date begin._

I was not eager to get out of bed when my alarm clock rang at around seven 'o' clock. But I got up anyway; I wasn't the type to back out on my word.

Never the type to really take long dressing up, I was on my way to the train station within a few minutes. I'd never thought Atobe actually took the train. I mean, I always just saw him being chauffeured around the place. I sat down on a bench in front of the station entrance and waited a record number of 23 seconds before he showed up in front of me. He was dressed simply but classily in a tucked out blue Oxford, a pair of khakis and some really expensive looking shoes, a black jacket was slung over one shoulder. He looked pretty good, he and Yuushi appeared to pull anything off.

I looked at my watch, 8:00. "Eager?" I teased.

"Ore-sama is never late. Ore-sama will not let you change that." He stated coolly, seemingly oblivious to all the female heads he was turning. I got up and waited.

He ushered me towards the opposite direction from the station entrance and I spotted a sleek black limo parked by the road. _Figures, as if you could count on him to actually ride the train, _I smiled to myself, he looked at me and raised his eyebrow, I shook my head and he, eyebrow still raised suspiciously, turned away from me to open the car door, motioning for me to get in.

Once he shut the door, he gave his driver and address in the Ginza district and then turned towards me. "You clean up well. Ore-sama thought you were the hoodie and jeans type of girl."

Smiling sardonically at him, I looked down at my denim shorts and three-piece top. "I am on occasion. Sorry to disappoint. Likewise, I have nothing to say to you. I'm _sure _you know how _you _look."

"Well, if we're thinking the same thing, ore-sama believes you think ore-sama looks pretty hot." He drawled amusedly.

I sighed exasperatedly and socked him in the shoulder. "Hot enough to _burn_ yourself, hopefully. _Very painfully._"

There was silence for a few minutes while I was simmering in annoyance against the plush leather seats. I glared at the divider that was up between us and the driver.

"Ore-sama meant only the best with what ore-sama said earlier." He said suddenly, smirking.

It was hard to take anything he said seriously if he was always smirking. "That you think you look hot?" I feigned ignorance to his meaning. "I hope the best means you drowning in a river, Narcissus."

He rolled his eyes. "Humorous. You know what ore-sama means, you do look good, you know." His tone was honest enough, my first time hearing it actually.

I smiled cautiously. "Thanks, I guess. Is this the part where I compliment you?"

He smirked again, "Nope, this is the part where you get out of the car." I turned and saw that the car had stopped already. Atobe was already walking around the car to pull open my door. He did say the other day that he was a gentleman, no matter how hard it was to believe.

The sidewalks and stores were packed with people as expected of a Sunday morning. Atobe leaned in to the car to talk to his driver before the car drove off, leaving us in the middle of Ginza.

"What now?" I asked, honestly curious as to how the day was going to go. It was only 8:40.

"We're in the Ginza shopping district. We shop." He stated taking off down one street.

"I don't shop much." I said honestly, looking at a jewelry display through a window. "At least not clothes or shoes, I buy a lot of pastries, though. Spend most of my free time in different patisseries."

"Once again, it is a wonder how you eat so much." I glared at him. "But we could look for some good ones, take a few pictures, ore-sama needs them for ore-sama's parents."

Patisserie hunting didn't sound so bad, I grinned. "What else, though?" We talked as weaved through the throngs of people.

"Ore-sama has dinner reservations but ore-sama decided to let you pick where to eat lunch." He explained. I was sure he picked some place unnecessarily expensive for dinner. "As long as were not having the pastries for lunch. They're okay as snacks but they don't do as meals."

"Yeah, yeah." I said dismissively. "You can't survive on pastries, sports boy."

He glared at my newfound nickname.

By eleven 'o'clock, I had dragged him into a total of six patisseries, two bread shops and a candy store. The stamina from working out was showing as he carried the boxes easily – and wrestled them away from me whenever I bought something. He laughed when he asked me where my stamina came from and I answered that it came from constantly going around buying sweets coupled with sugar rush.

"Don't you want to sit down?" He asked as we were walking out of the sixth patisserie.

"Why? Are you tired?" I raised an eyebrow at him teasingly. He scoffed.

"Ore-sama thought you might want to actually eat one of things you bought, but if not, that's fine."

I was getting hungry and I didn't really mind eating dessert before the actual lunch but I really wanted to take some of them home. "One box, then, or two. But where are we going to sit?"

"Do you still have it in you to walk to Hibiya Park or are you tired?" He said mockingly, motioning to the street behind us.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I'm never too tired to eat, Atobe."

He chuckled and I hit him in the stomach before he could say his usual 'I can't believe you eat so much' that he had bombarded me with every two shops.

It was true, though, I was never too tired to eat sweets so by the time we got to the park, I simply took the boxes from him, settled them on a bench and plopped down next to it. He stared at me expectantly.

I looked up at him innocently. "Make room," he deadpanned. I looked at the bench I was on. It could comfortably sit two people but my bag of food easily took up the space next to me.

"Find your own seat, my food needs to be comfortable," I said, amusement clear in my voice, annoyance clear in his.

"In other words, you expect ore-sama to drag a metal bench ten meters just to sit down?" He drawled.

My eyebrow never failed to rise at almost anything he said. "No, in other words, I was thinking you could sit on the floor." I stared at him incredulously.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "We're going somewhere tonight; ore-sama can't get dirty. Ore-sama will sit on the floor some other time. For now, just move over a bit."

I looked up at him defiantly before he suddenly squeezed himself next to me on the bench. "Cheater," I gasped indignantly. The next few minutes were spent nudging each other and trying to make the other one move over, after one particularly hard shove on my part because, really, Atobe was a hell lot stronger than me, he stood up and settled himself on the armrest of the bench. He glared at me.

"Ore-sama will get that seat, just wait for it."

I snorted. "Yeah, once I get up to leave." I didn't bother waiting for a reply before shoving a pastry box into his face. "Here, this is my favorite shop. It's really good."

He took it from me and inspected the box, "Henri Charpentier? Ore-sama's mother buys ore-sama some pastries there sometimes but ore-sama doesn't think ore-sama's ever eaten this."

I swallowed a bite thickly before I answered him. "Try it, it's really good. My mom brought me there before too, I never stopped coming back." He nodded and turned back to my food.

"Told you ore-sama would get a seat." He said, suddenly and my head snapped to the side to see him sitting next to me on the bench, the bag of pastries nestled under the bench.

"That's not fair," I whined. "You said _my_ seat."

"No, ore-sama said 'that' seat, ore-sama did not specify which seat 'that' was." He said matter-of-factly, taking a bite from a profiterole he got from the box. "This is pretty good."

Getting an idea, I stuffed the rest of my food down my throat before turning to him. "Finish the box."

"Ore-sama would rather not."

"Come on, I dare you. It's just food." When the going gets tough, play on a man's pride. This worked twice as well 'cause this man's got a lot of pride.

He looked down at the box. "Why?"

"Just because," I chimed.

He looked at me icily. "What kind of guy responds to 'just because'?"

"Your kind of guy, I'm hoping."

"Your hopes are effectively crushed then."

"So you're backing out of my challenge. I already finished my box, see." I showed him my empty box and he grimaced. I knew that face. "Don't say it, Atobe."

He shrugged and faced the box again. "Fine."

I grinned at him like a cat that got the cream – cream puff actually. "Great."

It was fun watching him eat all that food. Somewhere along I actually thought to myself that he looked cute. It looked like he had never eaten that many sweets in his life. Once he was done, he took the empty boxes and placed them in the trash can behind him, all the while glaring at me.

"What's for lunch?" He asked, the calmest expression possible on his face.

"Fast food," I told him with a wink. I wondered just how much his diet could take.

He glared harder. "She's trying to kill ore-sama," I heard him mutter under his breath, I smirked. I told him I wasn't deaf.

"Slowly, Atobe, slowly," I said in a sing-song voice. He looked like he was resisting the urge to throw the bench at me.

* * *

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	7. Lucky 13

Atobe sulked behind me the entire walk to a certain fast food place.

I ignored him for the most part. Well, until we needed to order something. "Atobe, you're gonna have to talk to me. I'm fine if you don't, you can starve, if you'd like." I poked him when we got near the front of the line.

"Right now, ore-sama thinks ore-sama can last until tomorrow morning." He grumbled.

I sighed. "It wasn't that much. And you said that pastries weren't lunch."

He sighed resignedly (and very annoyedly) and dug his wallet out before handing it to me. "Ore-sama will pay, don't argue. Get me anything. Ore-sama is going to sit down."

Tapping his wallet against my cheek, I sighed again and smiled at his retreating back. He looked a tad bit pale, I guess he really can't take that much sweets. If he intended to spend time with me, though, that would have to change a bit. He'd starve if he didn't and that would be tragic…supposedly.

At the front of the line, I took a few bills from his wallet and ordered for the two of us. The girl behind the cashier had a dreamy smile on her face as she took the money. I dreaded the cause.

"Is that your boyfriend?" She said dazedly, punching in the numbers while simultaneously staring at Atobe sitting at a table.

Glancing at him, I tried not to snort. "Theoretically," I answered, taking the tray.

She didn't seem to mind my weird answer, she just kept staring. "You're so lucky."

_Theoretically. _I answered in my head, walking away.

Atobe caught his wallet with ease when I threw it at him, watching as I put the tray down in front of him. "I think you turned that girl's brain to mush," I said, pulling up my seat.

He gave her a sideways glance. I did the same, noticing that she was still looking at him with the same star struck expression on her face. "That's what you're here for."

"To see people's brains being turned into mush?"

He shook his head, smirking. "No, so that ore-sama doesn't have to see people's brains turning into mush personally."

I stepped on his foot under the table with the heel of my boot, he glared at me for that. Shrugging, I handed him his half of the food. It was considerably less than mine and I was so sure he was going to point that out. And he did.

"You really go at it, don't you," he said as I started on my cheeseburger.

"Why? No room for a cheeseburger in your carefully planned diet, sports boy?" I stuck my tongue out. AFTER swallowing.

He shook his head and popped a fry into mouth. "It's not that. You're just an overwhelmingly big eater."

"Oh, shut up, Atobe, just eat." And he did, miraculously.

"Oi," he said after a few minutes. "It's frustrating. There are a lot of places ore-sama could've taken you to that are closed _only _on Sundays."

"I'm sorry for having a life outside our fake relationship." I said monotonously.

He flicked my arm which was resting next to his on the table. "Someone might hear you," he muttered. Pouting, I drew my arm back and folded it across my chest.

"Are you free this Saturday?" He asked and I shook my head quickly.

I took a sip from my soda, debating whether I should tell him about the competition. Obviously, Sakaki-sensei didn't tell him and _I _really didn't want to. It would just be another part of my life he would be involved in. Especially since I would actually be at Seigaku. "All my Saturday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons are booked for the next few months, okay?" I decided on going for half-informed.

"Why?"

"Please respect my decision of not telling you, got it?" I stared at him intently.

"Fine." He breathed.

"Seriously? I thought you'd put up more of a fight." I told him suspiciously.

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Well, if you want ore-sama to ask…"

"No!" I said quickly. "That's great! Thanks, Atobe."

He shrugged, going back to his food. Somehow I could see the gears turning in his head. My eyes narrowed.

"Promise you won't use the student council president thing to pry into my file or something 'cause I really do find it kind of stalker-y." I mumbled.

"Don't flatter yourself," He stated coolly.

The rest of the meal went on in amiable – as amiable as possible for the two of us, which consisted mostly of silence – conversation. In no time at all, we were back on the streets, strolling serenely side by side…

Not really, we were kind of arguing over who would carry the bags of food I bought because I grabbed them on our way out before he did. Right now, he was trying to get them back.

"I bought them," I reasoned. "Why can't I carry them?"

He made another move to take it from me. "Ore-sama is the guy, ore-sama is supposed to be carrying them. It looks bad for ore-sama if you carry them."

"That is an awfully sexist way of looking at things," I complained, putting them out of his reach.

He groaned. "Just give ore-sama half and let's call it even."

I lowered by arms and let him take one bag. I didn't like having him bringing my stuff around. I mean, it was MY stuff! "What's with you and not letting ore-sama carry it anyway?"

Pouting, I looked away. "It's my stuff, it feel s wrong to let you carry it. You were just being excessively annoying earlier. I don't like being pathetic. It just so happens I'm not particularly athletic."

He chuckled, "You're not pathetic, well, not completely at least."

"You're a wonderful person, did you know that?" I drawled sarcastically.

The blue-eyed _devil _smirked. Again. "Ore-sama's heard that a few times before."

I elbowed him in the ribs gruffly, "Has anyone ever told you you're a jerk?"

"You've told ore-sama that a few times before," He replied, one corner of his mouth tugging upward.

"Here's me telling you again, jerk." I reached out and poked him in the cheek. He had exceptionally nice skin.

* * *

I have no idea what happened after that. He told me he made dinner reservations for six but I had no notion whatsoever about what we could have done for practically four hours.

He brought out a camera. And we took pictures, for _four _hours.

The surprising thing? It was, one way or another, fun.

At six, he steered me towards his choice of restaurant. Stopping, I found myself in front of a vaguely familiar Japanese restaurant. The sign read _Kitcho._ There was one thing I remembered _extremely vividly_, though. The prices.

"You cannot seriously intend to treat me to dinner here," I whispered sharply after he gave the hostess an introduction. It was _that _expensive, you have to introduce yourself!

"It's ore-sama's money, isn't it? Have you been here before?" He asked, calmly walking to our seats. Western style, so we had more room to place our bags, apparently. Now, that we were inside, I remembered a lot more about the place.

"Yeah, with my parents!"

"Then it's fine eating here," He pulled up a chair and motioned for me to sit down.

I looked at him, distressed. "They're my _parents_, Atobe." He could not have seriously been comparing the situation right now to my having dinner with my parents. I met him less than a week ago via sexual harassment. "They're obliged to pay for my meals."

"Can't ore-sama be obliged to pay for your meal? Ore-sama brought you here, after all." He reasoned, hand still on the back of my seat.

"It's different," I whined.

He sighed agitatedly, "Ore-sama already paid for it."

I dropped back into my seat and let him push it in. "Thank you." He said as he made his way to his own seat.

"Why did you take me here?" I said in a tortured voice.

He laughed. "Don't be so dramatic. Ore-sama told you that most of the places ore-sama would've taken you are closed on Sundays. This place happened to be open. Deal with it."

"Can I pay half?" I asked in a small voice, not about to let him pay forty thousand yen _per person _without a fight.

"No."

"Just mine?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," He answered with an exasperated sigh. "Remind ore-sama next time that you're not the type of girl that appreciates being treated to expensive food."

I frowned, looking around again. "Gladly."

When the food arrived, I exerted utmost effort to enjoy every single grain of rice. An effort Atobe found increasingly funny as the meal progressed as evidenced by the smirk he didn't even try to hide every time I started on a new bowl.

"In the end, ore-sama believes you found the food pretty good." He said while they were clearing the table.

Taking a sip of tea, I answered him calmly. "It's not as if I don't find the food here good. It's just the fact that the prices are way too much for a first _fake-_date."

"Ore-sama will reiterate, it's ore-sama's money." He said simply.

I sighed. "You have way too much money." I knew. I had his wallet. "Aren't you afraid of being mugged or something?"

"People are usually too intimidated by Kabaji to try that and ore-sama is not dumb enough to wander off alone with that much money. That's what credit is for."

"Then why did you have so much cash in your wallet?"

He shrugged. "Rare occasion. Ore-sama was on a date. Ore-sama didn't know where you wanted to go, ore-sama wasn't sure if ore-sama would need cash."

I exhaled heavily, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Why are you so hell bent on this anyway?"

He looked at me intently. "Ore-sama is hell bent on this because ore-sama fully intends on making you tolerate ore-sama until graduation. Do you know how excessively persistent the girls at school are? More so if we suddenly 'break up,'" I could hear quotation marks in his voice. "Life would be so much harder."

"I feel used." I deadpanned.

He shook his head amusedly, "Ore-sama doesn't have anything to say to that."

Laughing sarcastically, I reached across the table to take the camera from his jacket's inside pocket. "Just wait, Atobe. I'll come up with a good one to get back at you for all this. Don't forget our little deal."

He propped his head up on the table, watching me fiddle with the camera. "Ore-sama looks forward to it."

"Really," I drawled. He took the camera from my hands and browsed through pictures. "I was still looking at that!"

"Almost all the pictures here are of food," He noted, ignoring my complaint. "What will ore-sama's parents think?"

"Now they'll think you'll spend the rest of your life married to a cream puff," I chimed in gleefully.

He raised an eyebrow, still looking at the screen. "Ore-sama would never make that mistake."

"Hey, don't diss the cream puff. That's my baby you're talking about," I joked. He chuckled lightly before passing me the camera. It was on a picture of the two of us. It was the _only _picture with the two of us in it. And we had a very eager young lady to thank for that. Just for the record, the eager young lady wasn't me. We were at a cafe and the waitress that brought us our drinks offered to take a picture of us. The first one had me completely cut out (she said it was a test shot) but she got the second one right. I was happy with it, generally; it was my best fake smile yet.

Laughing, I went through the other shots. "Incredible. Four hours taking pictures and we only have one shot together."

"That was what the chauffeur was for. Ore-sama's parents sent him to check if ore-sama actually had a girl with ore-sama and wasn't just sneaking off pretending to be on a date."

"Wow, your parents are really eager to have you dating someone."

"Tell me about it. They're not exactly the type to have ore-sama married off to someone ore-sama doesn't like but they incessantly set ore-sama up for omiais just so ore-sama gets used to the whole idea of it and give in. Thus, you are thrown into ore-sama's life."

"Hey, you literally dragged me into it," I argue.

"Irrelevant," He brushed it off and for the umpteenth time I inflicted some type of bodily harm upon his leg under the table and for just about as many times, he glared at me. "They were particularly happy when they found out it was you." He continued stiffly, still glaring.

I tilted my head inquisitively. "Why?"

"Simply because you're exactly the kind of girl they would've set ore-sama up with,"

I interjected, "I doubt that, there is no way you will find me dragged into a meeting for an arranged marriage. I'd rather cut my hair, dye it green and stow away on some freight ship as a carnie than get dragged into an arranged marriage."

He waved his hand dismissively _again_, "Setting that information aside, you're their ideal daughter-in-law, well, until they actually meet you."

My brow rose slightly, "Yuushi told me that, too, sans the until they meet you part." I added. "Now, tell me, I may be the ideal daughter-in-law but am I the ideal wife?" Cue batting of eyelashes coyly.

Atobe gagged and I stepped on him again. "Well, that would be domestic abuse for you."

I snorted. "Be a man and suck it up."

* * *

The same chauffeur picked us up and this time I tried to make conversation with him, just to get a grasp of the situation. Atobe was still outside of the car taking a business call and I was left alone with him inside with the divider down. He was nice enough; he seemed to really adore Atobe. Just as said young master entered the car, the chauffeur winked at me and mouthed 'good luck.'

I settled back into the leather seat with a slight grimace on my face.

Atobe closed the door and gave his driver an address before the wall-thing went up again. The address, I realized quickly, of my building.

"So, I'm guessing you got that from my file as well," I said more than inquired. My expression was relaxed compared to my previous complaints about his nosiness. The day really wiped me out.

He reclined into the seat as well, lacing his fingers behind his head and closing his eyes. "Files are useful that way," He muttered dryly.

The time after that was spent napping on my part. I didn't particularly care what he was doing anymore. It would seem he was napping, too, because when we stopped in front of my building his chauffeur was calling us both, repeatedly.

I scrambled up to grab my bags and crawl out of the car, Atobe on my tail. We stopped at the entrance to my building while I looked for my key card.

"Ore-sama will go up and greet your parents," Atobe stated.

I shook my head, bringing out my key. "You don't have to do that. My parents are out," I said matter-of-factly.

He nodded in understanding and handed me my bags which he took while I was searching for my key. "Are you sure you don't want ore-sama to accompany you upstairs? You may just trip and fall."

I glared at him half-heartedly. _So tired. _"No thanks, Atobe. I've had enough of you for now...forever even."

He smirked. "Likewise, Mai. Just out of curiosity, how about it?"

I slumped bonelessly. "I'd really rather not. Our first real conversation happened barely a week ago. Give me a few weeks to want to kill you a little less and then I'll think about it again. Be satisfied that I agreed to pretend to be your girlfriend. I'm not giving you the satisfaction of agreeing to another one of your requests." I shuddered mockingly, he raised his eyebrow amusedly.

He shrugged before turning towards his car again. "Ore-sama is still going to be calling you Mai; it's a lot less effort. Don't force yourself."

I ran a hand through my jet-black hair and sighed. "Whatever, Atobe. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night," He called. It didn't cross my mind to turn around anymore. I went straight to the elevator (a little more careful, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right even if I'd never tell him he was) and clambered onto my sofa the second my door opened.

The clock read 9:00. _Damn, what have we been doing for the past...thirteen hours?_

* * *

**Thank you once again to all my awesome readers and reviewers...Hope you enjoyed!**

**I love you Japan! I was on the look out for tennis players my whole stay!**

**Read and Review! Tell me what you think!  
**


	8. Into the Day

**I'm terribly sorry that it's late. It was supposed to be up over a week ago but our computer crashed(its still broken) and my flash drive was with my sister in Japan so I had to wait until she came back to get my files. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

I woke up early to borrow some pieces in the library at school. Sakaki-sensei had this private collection that he told me I could get from and I took him up on the offer.

I passed the student council room on the way to the music room from the library and I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. I thought I would be the only one at school this early.

Leaning in towards the small opening, I took a glance inside. I suppose it shouldn't have been surprising but it was.

Atobe was at his desk again, rifling through another set of papers intently. I sighed and looked down at the scores in my arms.

_I'll come back in an hour. _

* * *

Looking up at the clock above the piano, I realized an hour had passed already. My stomach gurgled as I gathered my things and I decided to make a quick stop at the cafeteria before heading to the student council room. There was a small tinge of hope that maybe he wasn't around anymore.

He looked up as I slid the door open and an expression of bewilderment crossed his face for a split second before he schooled it into a bland look in my direction.

"The door was open," I said blithely, prancing into the room with my breakfast in hand.

His eyebrow rose as I leaned comfortably on the side of his desk. "Ore-sama noticed." He took a look at the stacks in front of him and handed me one. "Don't get it dirty."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said, taking a bite of delicious pastry. "Same thing?"

"Yeah," He said, returning to his own stack and not looking back up until he was done.

We finished at the same time and he collected the papers, putting them in a bunch of drawers around the room. He sat back down and started gathering his things. It was amusing watching him flit around the room like some sort of busy White Rabbit right out of Wonderland. Especially since he barely talked while he worked which made it loads easier to be around him.

Once he had packed up his bag, he stood and started for the door, looking at me as he passed. "Aren't you going to class?"

I stretched my arms and legs before hopping to my feet, having already left the scorebooks and my bag in the classroom. "So, that's done, then?"

"For the most part," He said and then turned to smirk at me. "Do you have fun spending all that time with ore-sama?"

I knew it was coming so I just chortled openly at him. "Not particularly. You just looked like you needed help. And what kind of person would I be to ignore a fellow human being who looked so pathetic?" I said in my best dramatic voice.

He moved so his bag hit my shoulder. I elbowed him in the ribs. "It didn't occur to ore-sama that you were a human being. The way you eat mostly reminds ore-sama of a – "

"Don't say it."

"What was ore-sama going to say?"

"You know what you were about to say." I whined. "Stop calling me fat. It's rude to say that. What if I said something like that about you, you ass?"

"What is there to say about ore-sama?" He intoned haughtily.

I gaped at his utter vaingloriousness. This guy couldn't get enough of himself. "There is a lot to say about you."

"Like what?"

I pretended to think about it. "Well, personally and all, you're not my type, remember? There are a lot of things that don't appeal to me." _Which obviously do not include the muscles... _ He made a face that said continue. "Well, you're too pretty for me."

He froze in place and his eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his hairline, practically. "You can't be serious." He said, purely in monotone.

A confident smirk made its way to my lips. "On the contrary, I am _very serious._" I clutched onto his arm teasingly. "You're so _pretty_. It just feels so weird to be hanging around you like this."

He breaks out of his stupor to lean forward so that our faces our centimetres apart. I look up at him, daring him to try something. His arm slips around my waist to pull me closer to him. His mouth goes to my ear. I can hear him breathing heavily. "Do you still think I'm pretty?" He drawls into my ear.

There's a pause in the air before I gasp out, "Yes."

He pulls away from me slightly, arm still around me, to glare straight into my eyes. "What is wrong with you, woman?" He complains, whiny.

I resist the urge to laugh in his face because I'd literally be laughing _in his face. _And that would be gross. Before I'm able to answer, a voice cuts into the tension.

"Hey guys, are we interrupting something?" Mukahi Gakuto and Shishido Ryo are standing a few meters away with looks that reflected shock, disgust and amusement all at the same time. Amusement was apparently winning out at the moment if the leers currently crawling onto their faces were any proof.

Splaying my hand out on Atobe's (_chiselled_) chest, I pushed him until he had the sense to drop his arms before I turned to the two guys still watching interestedly. "Not at all," I said with belying calmness. Unlike most girls, I did not easily blush. Right at that moment, I was eternally grateful.

Atobe finally got his bearings together – it would seem that he reacted worse to being called 'pretty' than being called 'gay' – and addressed the two of his teammates with a customary drawl...and then slung his arm around my shoulders again. I slumped with the weight.

"I told you it was heavy," I said out of the corner of my mouth. His hand slipped down to my waist. "I was thinking of a different solution." I looked up at Atobe to see that he was rolling his eyes at me. I glared.

"Are you two having a fight?" Shishido asked dully. But I could see the glint in his eyes.

I smiled pleasantly. "Oh, well, we're always fighting, nothing new there."

"It makes things interesting," Atobe added.

"That's just like you, Atobe. You must be suffering, Takashina." He gave me an apologetic look before laughing clapping Atobe on the back. _You have no idea, Mukahi._ I wanted to say that but I settled for a bright smile and a curt chuckle. Shishido looked like he was trying grievously hard not to spontaneously explode from laughter. "How long have the two of you been dating anyway? It was a hell of a shock when you guys announced it."

_You weren't the only ones surprised, _I thought wryly. "Just recently," Atobe and I answered at the same time. _Like a few days ago..._

"Woah, couple-ness." He hooted, smirking. "We'll be leaving you two alone, now. Right, Shishido?"

Shishido tipped his baseball cap at me before catching up with Mukahi, on their way to their classrooms. Once they were out of sight and earshot, Atobe and I pushed off of each other.

I stalked away from him, irritated. "Don't touch me like that." He was still walking behind me. I groaned, realizing his class was right next to mine.

"Ore-sama will try to keep it at a minimal. But it worked, didn't it?"

I grimaced, glancing at him next to me. He kept up with my pace effortlessly. "Too well, unfortunately. I don't like being manhandled to prove a point."

He looked at me and proceeded to stuff his hands into his pockets blithely. "Happy?"

"Happier if you just chopped them off," I said in my most sugary tone.

He laughed. "That would be a great loss for the world."

"In your head, Atobe. The world in your head."

After our little scene, Atobe dropped me off at the door of my class as promptly and vehemently refused his joking request of a goodbye kiss. He turned on his heel and chuckled, wasting no time to get to his own classroom before the bell rang.

* * *

As I walked towards my desk after class, I was yanked back by a hand on my wrist. For a second I thought it was some hostile fangirl until I hit something very solid but not quite a wall. "How was your date, Mai-hime?" Someone drawled into my ear. Looking around, I saw a massive nosebleed wave overwhelming the fangirls. I looked up, fully knowing who to expect.

"You know about that, huh?"

Yuushi grinned at me but I pulled away slightly to look at him properly. "It seemed as if I do, didn't it?"

I walked over to my seat with a smile and sat down on the desk, he leaned on the desk across me, still grinning. The fangirls were still bleeding out on the floor but some of them recovered to do something wholly more significant. Namely, glare at me. Ignoring them was easy. After a few minutes, they started to file out of the room anyway to get prime seats for tennis practice. "So, you didn't know and I just told you, didn't I?" I asked incredulously.

"An educated guess. I saw you guys outside." He winked at me. "You seemed a lot closer than when I saw you guys last week. Something had to have happened in between."

"Close?" I gasped out theatrically. "What kind of blasphemy is that?"

Laughing, Yuushi bowed ever-so gentlemanly, "I'm so sorry for such a rude assumption," he said.

I pulled playfully on his hair before I grabbed my bag. "You going to practice again?" he asked curiously as we strode out of the classroom together.

"Tragically," I rolled my eyes before I smiled and winked at him.

He nudged me gently. "I'll try to make it as interesting as possible, Mai-hime."

"You can try," I nudged back.

"So, how was the date?"

"And, we're back there again." I sighed, mostly just amused at Yuushi's expression. "It was..." I searched for the right word. "Adequate."

He raised his eyebrow at that. "Adequate? Atobe's going to die if he learns something he did was anything less than awe-inducing."

I snorted. "Like his prowess?"

"Yeah, just like that." He chuckled. "But really, how was it? I want facts." He pressed.

I puffed my cheeks out, recalling what happened yesterday. Coolly, I related to him everything that transpired. By the end of it, Yuushi had a permanent smirk on his face.

"You're one of a kind." He intoned, ruffling my hair.

Running my hand through my hair, I smirked. "It's great to think so."

Right before we entered the crowd of bystanders, I spotted Sakaki-sensei a little ways off talking on the phone. I remembered I had to give him a few things and stopped abruptly. Yuushi followed suit, staring at me inquiringly. "What's up?" He asked and turned to look at what I was staring at. "Oh, Sakaki-sensei? If you're going to talk to him, do it now. He won't be around at practice today."

Nodding, I took an envelope and a scorebook out of my bag. "You still play?" He addressed me, spotting the scorebook in my hand.

"Yeah, I've got to talk to Sakaki-sensei about it actually. I'll follow."

"Do you want me to wait for you?" I looked at the crowd and frowned acutely. If I left Yuushi, I would have to trudge my way through the impossible crowd again but then it made me guilty to ask him to wait especially since he was actually already late because of me.

I shook my head. "It's fine, I'll see you there."

He looked at the crowd for a second before looking at me again. "Are you sure?" At my nod, he gave me on last look and nodded back. "Let's play together sometime."

"Sure." I grinned at his wink. Turning around, I was pleased to see that Sakaki-sensei was done with his phone call. I jogged over to him before he left.

"Sakaki-sensei, these are for you." I extended my hand to him. "From Akazawa-sensei."

He took them from me and placed into his briefcase. "I was just speaking to him actually. He's excited for your first session on Wednesday. Do your best."

"I will."

"Good luck." He gave me a pat on the shoulder and excused himself.

When he was out of the gate, I faced the unbelievably large crowd that had gathered by the courts and wondered how I was going to get through. I walked around the edge for a while to look for a place I could pass before I spotted an increasingly familiar blue baseball cap again. The owner of this cap was leaning against a wall in a corner, away from the crowd.

I approached him, and when I was about a meter away, he spoke up, looking at me. "I don't appreciate that I have to get you every time." His tone was annoyed but there was no mistaking the amusement on his face.

Placing a hand on my hip, I copied his tone. "I don't appreciate being here every time."

He stood up straight before turning his cap around so that the bill was at the back. "But you're here anyway."

Sticking my tongue out slightly, I answered. "So are you."

* * *

This time Ootori Chotarou sat next to me for some time, identifying the different shots for me. Even if he was a year younger than me, he was cool, easy to talk to and was every bit as mature as anyone in my year and was significantly more mature than Mukahi who took pleasure out of teasing me about Atobe every single time he passed by me. Mukahi and Chotarou tried multiple times to let them teach me tennis but I refused for fear of embarrassing myself in front of everybody present.

When it was done, Atobe walked me to the gate like last time. "Why don't you want to learn tennis?"

I stared at him incredulously. "You very well know why, Atobe, I'm sure you do."

He gave me a sideways glance and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Ore-sama does know but ore-sama thought you should learn how to play."

I pouted. "No thanks. I'm already learning the game; I don't need to learn how to _play _the game."

He shrugged, smirking. "You'll change your mind eventually."

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked up, pretending to think. "When that happens, however unlikely that is, you will not be the first to know."

We stopped by the entrance of the school. He still had things to do inside while I had to head home. He gave me one last pat on the back before he turned away. "Ore-sama will find out eventually."

"When it's on my file?" I asked lightly, choking back a chortle.

Atobe stopped in his tracks to look back at me exasperatedly. I grinned and waved, turning on my heel before he had anything to say.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**How was it? Read and Review, please!**


	9. For Future Reference

Nowadays, it was nothing new to wake up early. Like today I was once again up before my alarm clock rang. I was thinking of adjusting the time on that thing just so I didn't feel like I was waking up so damn early.

I went to school early (again), this time because I left some homework in my desk that I had yet to finish. Yuushi distracted me yesterday with talk of my closeness with Atobe. It wasn't so much as closeness as competitiveness. The two of us were constantly trying to get the other to crack under unbearable annoyance, like a mutual understanding of sorts.

It was amazing what a week could do to a person.

Finishing the homework was easy enough and I quickly got bored staring out the window in an empty classroom. Unable to take anymore boredom, – I thought of playing the piano in the music room for a bit until I realized I left my piece at home, so forgetful today– I pushed my chair back and stood up, set on wandering around the building in search of something to do rather than sit around and let my butt get to be the size of a basketball. That would probably have been very amusing to Atobe.

Speaking of said asshole, I was a hall away from the hallway where the student council room was when I heard a drawer slam in that direction. _There's no way..._ I thought to myself as I traipsed quietly down the hall. _Worst case scenario, it could be a ghost..._ I came across the door to the student council room wide open with Atobe sitting on a sofa in the corner of the room with a bunch of folders open around him. I blinked unbelievingly.

"Are you here every morning?" I asked, hand on the doorframe.

He didn't look up but I saw the sides of his mouth turn up in a smirk or a smile, I couldn't tell. "Ore-sama could ask you the same thing."

I laughed, walking forward until I could sit on his desk. "Nowadays, pretty much."

He closed a folder and slid it into a box next to him before picking up another one. "Need any help, pretty boy?"

He cringed visibly and a smirk came to my face. When he looked up his eyes were narrowed with his eyebrow raised. I sighed and moved off the desk to sit on an overstuffed armchair across from him. The student council room had very comfy furniture.

"I have nothing better to do," I offered.

He smirked, putting away another folder. "Ore-sama knows."

"Don't mock me, pretty boy." I deadpanned.

He scowled at the nickname but slid a box towards me anyway. "When have I ever done that?"

I growled before taking the box. "Where are your other student council people?"

He shrugged. "Not here." He answered curtly.

"I hadn't noticed." I said blandly. "Seriously."

"This is ore-sama's job. They have other things to do."

I looked at all the papers around the room and then back at him. "Wow, you've got a lot to do. Don't you ever get tired?"

He looked up from his work and looked at me for a second as if to check if I were seriously asking him. Surprisingly enough, I was honestly curious. "I wanted this. Ore-sama has no right to complain." With that, the two of us returned to our work in silence.

Under my breath, I smiled. He wasn't _completely _an asshole. Just _kinda_ one.

* * *

There wasn't any tennis practice on Tuesdays. I thought I was free to go until Atobe showed up at the doorway of my classroom.

Trying to fool myself into thinking he was there for Yuushi, I grabbed my bag, ushered for my friends – who were shamelessly gushing over Atobe – and tried to walk right past him at the door.

Of course, it wasn't that simple.

"Nice try, Mai," He drawled as he caught the strap of my bag. I could vaguely register horrified gasps from the fangirls in the background. I did not know why they had to gasp every time he did something. They even did it at practice. He'd flip his hair. _Gasp_. Drink water. _Squeal._ Hit ball(which, for the record, he does _very much_). _Scream, scream, and more __**scream.**_

As if on cue, Atobe flipped his hair and a collective sigh erupted from them. His arm moved from my strap to my shoulder, pulling me until I was leaning against him. "And what would I be trying to do exactly?" I quipped in a hushed tone. "There's no practice today."

Yuushi chose this moment to walk by us and wink at me. "I forgot to tell you, Mai-hime. Atobe wants you to wait for him." He drawled before waving goodbye to a glaring Atobe. I turned to said captain impatiently.

"What did you want me for?" I asked, subtly trying to get his hand off my shoulder. My classmates were silent in the room behind him, staring unabashedly at our interaction.

He glanced at the class briefly before turning to me with a smirk I was beginning to think he developed together with Yuushi. "Ore-sama thought you could walk with me for a while." He said simply and suddenly some fangirl collapsed behind him. _Good Kami._

"Well, you see," I started. "My friends and I were already –" Halfway through my sentence, my female friends (thankfully, I wasn't sure what I'd do if the males did it) screeched, catching my attention and Atobe's. They started passionately dictating that we had no arrangements together and that he could have me for as long he'd like.

Such wonderful friends. _Really_.

With a wider smirk than ever, he swung me around and, keeping his hand on my shoulder, led me down the hall. "Ore-sama suspects you have the most atrocious grades in drama class, Mai."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Because?"

"You're acting is terrible." He said bluntly. I decided not to take that to heart. It wasn't as if I was really trying.

I smiled up at him sweetly. "Your criticism is being taken into account." The face was happy but the voice was definitely not. We kept walking without any intrusion. Apparently, people actually had things to do when they weren't at tennis practice. Hope wasn't completely lost for the world.

"Thought I told you to try and sell it."

Looking at him blandly, I replied, "What do you want me to do?"

"Try and look like you hate ore-sama less."

"Ooh, that's gonna be hard." I scrunched my face up in mock-distaste. By that time we were already at the gate of the school. I turned to him, his hand dropped from my shoulder. "Was that all?"

He didn't respond but rather just smiled at me and ran his hand through his hair. Taking that as a yes, I turned away and started on my walk home.

I had barely gotten five metres away from the gate when I realized he was walking a few steps behind me. Not looking at him, I just kept walking with the hope that maybe he just had some business in the same direction. By the time we got to the curb, though, I noticed he was a lot closer than when I last looked. I faced him exasperatedly, still refusing to stop. "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

"I can see that." I said. "Where are you going?"

He was looking straight ahead the entire time but he glanced at me for a second, then. I could swear he was smirking at me. His _eyes _were smirking at me. "Where are _you_ going?" He reiterated.

Pouting, I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "I asked first."

Facing me fully, I noted that he was really smirking at me. "And ore-sama can't answer your question unless you answer mine." He quipped. I stopped in my tracks.

"_Why?_" I exclaimed. _And I thought I was free from seeing him this afternoon._

Disregarding my obviously miffed expression, he just smirked and looked away. I sighed. "There's no getting rid of you this time, is there?"

He shook his head coolly. For a while, we walked in silence. The silence wasn't awkward exactly. I couldn't place my finger on what kind of silence it was, though. Before I could find a word for it, I remembered something else.

"I won't be at practice tomorrow," I reminded him. "Don't make Shishido wait for me. God knows how pissed off he'll be when I don't show."

"Oh, he'll be _very _pissed off. God knows he's a hell of a drama queen." Atobe pointed out.

I snickered. "Don't let him hear that or you'll see just how much of a drama queen he can be."

I stumbled when Atobe suddenly stopped, my foot tripping on his. He latched onto my forearm and pulled me up before my face became a pavement pancake. "What'd you stop for?" I whined, leaning into him while I rubbed my ankle.

"Hungry?" He asked. Upon hearing his question, my stomach growled. I looked up at him testily. "Ore-sama figured."

He motioned with his head to the cafe next to us. My face brightened, completely forgetting about my sore ankle. It was a place I went to often after school with my friends and the cake was simply divine. He hoisted me up to a steady standing position with a hand at my waist and ushered me into the shop. Once inside, I pulled away and plopped onto a sofa in the corner. Atobe sat down next to me, shaking his head amusedly at my overly enthusiastic reaction to eating. I punched his shoulder before he could comment on it again.

When we were both seated, the waiter that always served me and my friends came up to us. He was this part-time college guy that'd been working here for about a year already and he had a penchant for flirting with us whenever we came but he was a nice guy. And it didn't hurt that he was pretty hot. "Hey, Mai-chan, the usual?" I smiled up at him and nodded. "And your friend?"

I nudged my 'friend' slightly and waited for him to answer. He looked at me and shrugged. "Whatever you're having, then."

Me and Hideki-kun, the waiter, shared a look before we broke out into chuckles. Atobe glanced at the two of us with his eye twitching, "Trust me, you don't want whatever I'm having," I said through a snicker, seeing the irony in it.

Hideki-kun nodded in agreement. "Take her advice for it. Unless of course, Mai-chan's finally found someone with the same level addiction as her."

"Don't encourage him, Hideki-kun." I sighed exasperatedly.

To prove his point, he took his notepad and began reading aloud its contents. "That would be one Dacquoise, one Esterhazy torte, one Pavlova, one Tompouce, and one coffee parfait to finish it off."

"Seriously?" I stuck my tongue out at him. "Ore-sama'll have coffee."

"Now that, I can believe." Hideki-kun scribbled it on before winking at me briefly. "Be back in five minutes, Mai-chan."

"Yeah, thanks, Hideki-kun."

"You come here often?" Atobe asked, pointing to Hideki-kun then to me.

I nodded absently, bringing out my cell and noticing a bunch of messages from my _wonderful _friends. I opened Yuushi's. "It's along the route I take from school so I come here often with my friends. That was Hideki-kun, he's been working here for about a year already. Nice guy." I explained quietly, reading through the message. Once I was done, I set my phone aside, leaning into the seat.

"You didn't tell your friends about our situation, did you?" He stated more than asked.

I twisted my neck on the cushions to look at him. He had an arm draped on the back of the seat, his hand dangling in front of me. "After a little deliberation on the matter, the conclusion was that telling them wouldn't really help a thing. Especially considering some of them are in your fanclub and would jump at the opportunity to say that you're technically single."

"Good point." He acquiesced.

"I have more of them than you think." I smiled wilfully.

He smirked back at me, running his other hand through his hair. From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl swoon at the sight of his vanity. He seemed to notice it, too. "And me still more than that."

I promptly stabbed him in the ribs with my very sharp fingernails. He glared. I glared back. We stayed like that until he suddenly leaned forward, looking intently at my face. I raised my eyebrow and he moved back.

"You're not entirely Japanese, are you?" He asked.

"Why?" I asked confusedly.

He shrugged. "Your eyes are green."

"As they have always been," I sighed. "And yes, as a matter of fact, I do. But it's somewhere back. My great-grandmother on my father's side was German, I think."

At this point Hideki-kun came back with our orders. He placed Atobe's cup on the table first before he laid out my four mini-cakes and parfait. I smiled at him as he walked away before sending a withering look at Atobe, challenging him to say something about it. He looked up at me innocently before taking a sip of his coffee. When he leaned back into the chair, I guessed he was doing me a favour and shutting up about my eating habits for the time being.

I started with a cake, placing it in my hand and leaning back, resuming our previous positions. "And you are?" I trailed off, waiting for him to answer. It was common knowledge in school that he was part European but I never really bothered finding out what exactly.

"Mother is from England." He offered.

I looked at him over the rim of my glass. "Part English, then. Is there anything else you'd like me to know or you'd like to ask?"

The question stemmed from pure curiosity and after I asked it, it seemed to have the same effect on him. Smiling at me pompously question after question, we finally got into the rhythm of it...Well, after a little stepping of toes on my end. The rest of the meal turned out as something akin to twenty questions.

"Alright, alright, let's move on from that horrid incident." I deadpanned when he laughed after I told him about last term's coffee incident. "What's your favourite class?"

"Greek." He answered quickly.

"Music." I shot back just as fast. He raised his eyebrow interestedly.

"Favourite food?"

I snorted. "Isn't it obvious?" I said, motioning to the plates on the table.

He shrugged. "Yakiniku..." he started before pausing for a second, thinking. "And pudding."

"Really? Pudding?" He nodded haughtily with the same withering look I gave him earlier. "Okay, pudding. What else can I ask...How about favourite date spot?"

He gave me a curious look. "Where did that come from?"

I shrugged. "If you're going to take me out on _fake_," I emphasized. "dates, I might as well know _where_ you might take me." I said matter-of-factly.

For a moment, he seemed to be in deep thought. "Okay, if you say so. Ore-sama's favourite date would be a cruise about the southern isles."

Well, I did not know how to react to that. "Alright, then. Cruising the southern isles is a summer thing, right? I guess we won't be doing that since our deal only lasts until graduation at the start of spring." He looked at me for a second before shrugging. That was that, then.

"You?" He asked impatiently when I was quiet for a while.

"Wait! Still thinking!" I pursed my lips. "Any date that involves eating. No specific spot."

"You're really a – " He began to say but I thrust my fork in front of his face and glared at him sternly. "I will make sure that all of our future interaction involves food, then."

"Thank you, Atobe, how considerate of you." I said, smiling sweetly at him before nudging him _affectionately_ in the ribs.

He glared at me. "Not as considerate as you," he drawled, running his hand through his hair.

I gave him another candy-floss smile. "How nice of you to notice."

"What other favourites are there?" He asked absently, tilting his head back.

Taking a bite of my cake, I hummed. "Is that your question?"

He tipped his head forward again to stare at me in annoyance. I shrugged and took another bite. "Favourite kind of movie."

"Anything that involves action and/or suspense."

He smiled. "European movies. At least I'm saved from sitting through any of those romance dramas women seem to love."

"Oh, I don't mind those. Yuushi used to take me to romcoms and 'those romance dramas women seem to love' a lot. Especially during our junior high days." I said nostalgically.

He grimaced. "That seems like something Oshitari would do."

"Yes, yes it does. I mean, I love Yuushi but I thought it was justified that I thought you two were in a relationship." I said wistfully. He glared at me. "But then, you're probably not his type." To my surprise he laughed at that. Well, if you knew Yuushi enough, you probably would. "What's your favourite colour?"

His laughter stopped abruptly and he looked into my eyes again with a mischievous smirk. "Ore-sama's favourite colour is green." He drawled, not breaking eye contact.

"What do you think of me gouging my eyes out this very moment?" I deadpanned.

He pretended to think about it, letting his head loll onto the seat before he turned his head towards me again. "Very messy."

"Not if you do it right," I sneered. "Answer the question, baka."

He laughed amusedly. "Gold," he said and I rolled my eyes mentally. It seemed like him. It matched his personality. "And black."

"Anticipating your funeral already?" I muttered under my breath.

He smirked, reaching for his coffee. "Ore-sama thought you would ask what I thought of you shaving your head."

I choked on a chunk of cream. "Blind _and _bald, Atobe?" I managed to choke out. "It's either your merciless or you have very strange fetishes."

He scowled at me over his cup. "Ore-sama confesses to being merciless, then."

"Wasn't really asking for the answer to that, Atobe. I was going to enjoy assuming on that one." His scowl deepened. "By the way, my favourite colour is silver."

* * *

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	10. Messing With You

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* * *

After paying the bill – a matter which caused much conflict and in the end we halved it – I told him I needed to get home already. And he, like the absolute _gentleman_ he was, refused to let me walk home alone.

"I will repeat," I said as we got to the entrance of my building. "You don't need to walk me up. And just for your information, there were no accidents the last time."

Unsurprisingly, a smirk marred his face. "Ore-sama doubts you would have told me if something had happened."

I flinched at his the utter _trueness _of his statement and hoped to whatever Kami was up there that he didn't see me do it. A glance at his face said he did. I pouted. "Well, be realistic, Atobe. Why would I tell you if anything like that had happened?"

His hand went to his face in a way that I saw he did during tennis practice. I made a mental note to ask Yuushi what that meant, exactly. "Perhaps, you actually like it when ore-sama teases you." He drawled.

I gave him a tight-lipped smile, repressing the urge to give him a good one. There was the comforting weight of my book bag at my side. "You're joking," I deadpanned.

"You're not answering," he said simplistically, lowering his hand from his face and replacing it in his uniform pocket.

"Perhaps I've been overestimating your level of intelligence if you actually need me to dignify that with an answer," I shot back at him drily.

"Likewise, I might be overestimating _your _level of intelligence if the thought that you were overestimating ore-sama's intelligence even momentarily crossed your mind."

That was new.

I had to admit that I really did not expect that answer.

Damn him and his overgrown ego.

Scowling, I leaned on the wall and crossed my arms. "You." I said with the most venom I could muster at the moment.

He laughed haughtily and assumed a similar position on the wall next to me. "Me." He intoned in a self-aggrandizing way. I slid my foot over and kicked him lightly in the shin. He didn't even twitch.

"Tell me, Takashina," I turned to face him, wondering what the reason for the sudden name-change was. "How much do you hate ore-sama?"

I was honestly taken aback by that question. It simply registered in my head in the beginning that he couldn't be bothered to ask me anything like that. That he simply assumed everyone loved him..._nghh…he still probably does._

I gleaned nothing from the way he said it. But I sure as hell got pissed when I saw the expression on his face. Damn him and his infernal smirk.

"I'll be honest with you, Atobe," It felt like the best way to go. "As much as I want to tell you that I do, hate you, I mean, I just don't. I think that I don't know you well enough to hate you. So the answer to your question is probably no. Well, not yet, at least. I'll keep you posted. But on a side note, just because I don't hate you, it doesn't mean I don't want to kill you. I really, really do."

He seemed to seriously consider that for a second before he turned back to me. "Ore-sama thinks only you are the only person that would actually want to say that to ore-sama's face," he drawled coolly, still with that smirk.

"I accept your humble gratitude with regards to finding me." I chimed. Atobe smirked wider. "What made you bring it up?"

He shrugged his sculpted shoulders. _My appreciation of the athletic human body will be my downfall. _"Your friends all seem to love ore-sama," he drawled, throwing a sarcastic glance in my direction.

Another thing that I had to admit was that that was true. An understatement even. All my female friends were in his fanclub and my guy friends held the regulars in some crazy high respect – much like majority of the school population. My peers were fans of the Hyotei tennis club, undoubtedly. And I never failed to make a joke out of it to them. "So that makes me a bumbling mass of incoherency by association?" I quipped. "You should rethink that mentality." _I was right about thinking that he assumed everyone loved him, though._

Atobe ran a hand through his hair 'suavely.' "That's harsh," he said amusedly.

"But you're right," _Blech. _Shouldn't have said that. Was it my imagination or did his head just swell? "They do love you. But do you think I do?" Don't get me wrong. I love my friends and all that but it was seriously true.

"Quite obviously not," he grinned. "I was just wondering what made the big difference between you and them."

I smiled politely at my neighbor as she passed us as Atobe inclined his head in greeting. The kindly middle-aged woman grinned at me in return while shooting a curious glance at Atobe. Half the building would know about him by tomorrow. "Nothing big, really," I answered him. "I was just disenchanted by men, I guess." I told him the reason that most made sense to me. "Or seriously, you're just not my type."

He chuckled curtly, giving me another amused look. "Being friends with Oshitari and having been in ore-sama's presence," he started and I knew where it was going. "What about us could possibly have disenchanted you?"

"About you? A lot." I smiled. "About Yuushi? Nothing. I've developed an immunity to Yuushi."

"Then, you don't find ore-sama attractive?" He asked, eyebrow mockingly raised as if it was the most shocking thing in the world.

I was getting really sick of my honesty because I found that that question was similar to asking if throwing yourself into the sun would burn you; because Atobe was, without argument – even from me, attractive. Now, I wasn't about to tell him about my mental analogy there but I was still assuring him of my sexual orientation. "I definitely see the appeal," I began and with that, the huge smirk was back on his face. "But some of it just doesn't _appeal_ to me."

After saying that, I pushed myself off the wall and straightened up. I really needed to get going if I could still practice for my customary three hours and still get to do all my homework. "If we're done with Q&A, I really need to get up."

Atobe smirked infuriatingly and ran another (infuriating) hand through his (infuriating) hair. "You're dismissed."

Shaking my head, I watched as he straightened up as well and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. Before I could say anything to him he had his back turned to me and was on his way.

I sighed and shook my head again before making my way to the elevator.

* * *

Maybe it was time I stopped pointing it out since it's become practically a normal thing now. I woke up early _again. _I didn't get what was wrong with my body clock but it's been changing up my formerly normal hours.

So, after dragging myself out of bed to throw on my uniform and brush my teeth, I found myself on my way to school a good hour and a half before the morning bell.

My schedule for the morning had been mapped out in my head. Get to school. Buy bread. Eat bread. Go to library. Find Sakaki-sensei's scorebooks. Sit in library and look through scorebooks.

It was all pretty simple when you thought about it like that. And really, it was. Life was good that way. I figured Atobe didn't need me there every day. Hell, did he even really need me? I thought I was there to annoy him.

Akazawa-sensei had yet to tell me the schedule of the competition but he messaged me to start looking for other pieces to play for the second and third round. Pure optimism. In his exact words, 'start looking for other pieces to play for the second and third around, assuming you get that far.' The man looked nice but he knew how to get blood pumping.

I was already at the last thing on my morning schedule when the devil walked through the double doors of my temporary sanctuary.

"What are you doing here?" I groaned. He looked at me curiously. I saw the files in his hand and sighed inwardly. It was like Atobe and his paperwork were following me.

He set the papers in his hand down on the table next to my folder. "Ore-sama needs a few references to finish the papers." He disappeared behind a row of shelves.

It wasn't as if he was asking me to help him, so I gleefully returned to the scorebooks in front of me. Five minutes later he came back and reclined in the seat next to me. _Twitch._

_My sanctuary,_ I moan mentally, flipping a page of the book. "There are other seats, you know," I mumble heavily.

From the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk, but he doesn't give any other indication that he heard me. There was a long silence in the air wherein the only sounds you could hear were the flipping of the pages in his book and the scratching of pen on paper. I sat there with my eye twitching at regular intervals. A while longer and he pushed a book aside before grabbing for another one. I jumped in the middle of turning a page when his drawl rang out through the relatively empty room.

"You're in ore-sama's seat," He drawled, looking at me coolly with a flip of his hair before returning back to his book.

I blinked my wide eyes slowly. "I see," I replied sedately, still looking at his profile with a wide-eyed stare. Is that why he was sitting here? Because this was his spot? I looked around the room at my surroundings. Window seat, direct light, next to the thermostat…it _was_ a nice spot.

He chuckled curtly, still not looking at me. "_Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na," _He declared.

My brows furrowed in confusion and agitation. "Why?" I enunciated slowly, setting my scorebooks aside. There would be no reading accomplished with this guy around.

"I'm is letting you stay in my spot," He condescended to say, looking me in the eye but not moving his head. Do I even have to mention the smirk? "Ore-sama's generosity is simply astonishing. If you were anyone else, I would have directed you to move elsewhere."

I raised my eyebrow at him sedately before gathering my things and standing up. I could feel his eyes following my every movement and I resisted the terrible urge to laugh out loud because that would ruin the effect.

"What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously as I reached for the door.

"Walking out on your prowess," I answered coolly before turning to him with my own little smirk plastered on my face. I could see the shock and confusion slowly manifest on his face before I gave him a mocking wink as the door closed behind me.

The second it was fully shut I broke down laughing, leaning heavily on the wall next to the library door. At this point, I didn't care anymore if he could hear me laughing. The job was done.

_Kami, I love leaving him in shock._

* * *

Predictably enough – or unpredictably enough, depending how you look at it – Atobe did not try to find me during the day. Mukahi came and went whenever he could as always to chat with Yuushi and sometimes Taki but I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since our encounter this morning. And like I said, life was good that way.

"You're not going to practice today, Mai-hime," Yuushi said as I was packing up to leave in a bit of a hurry. The last bell rang a little late and if I didn't leave soon I'd be late for my lesson with Akazawa-sensei.

I smiled at him quickly before waving at my friends who were on their way to tennis practice themselves. "Yeah, I have to go somewhere today," I explained, slinging my book bag onto my shoulder.

Yuushi nodded before grabbing his own tennis bag while I walked towards the door. He jogged up next to me. "I'll miss you terribly," He exaggerated, dramatically clutching his heart.

"I feel your pain, but you'll live," I chuckled, walking briskly down the stairs. Yuushi kept up effortlessly.

At the entrance of the building, I quickly threw on my outdoor shoes and jogged to the door. "Where are you headed?" He called after me.

I'd love to tell him all about it but I really was in a rush. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow!" I announced. As an afterthought I added, "You and only you."

When he caught that last bit, Yuushi smirked and nodded in understanding. Whatever I was to tell him tomorrow would not reach his captain's ears.

* * *

It occurred to me that I had another problem when I stepped onto the grounds of Seigaku. I didn't know where the music rooms were.

Damn it.

I sighed and went around the building much like I had the previous Saturday and came across the tennis courts. Once I was close enough to see them, I noticed Momoshiro waving his arm frantically at me so I returned it with a small wave of my own as I approached.

I stopped on the sidelines of the court, facing Momoshiro through the metal fence.

"Yo," he grinned. "You came, Takashina-san."

I smiled. "Yep, of course I did. I have practice, too, remember?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with that. Will you come by after your practice?"

"Most probably," I assured him. It seemed like a good idea for break time in between piano practice here and at home. "But, I kind of have a problem, Momoshiro-kun." I added sheepishly.

He looked at me alertly, eager to be of service. "What is it?"

"Do you mind telling me where the music rooms are?'

"Not at all, I'll bring you there," he said cheerily. "Hold on a sec."

I followed as he walked along the edge of the sidelines to get to the door of the metal barrier. We met with Echizen during the short walk and he – apparently suffering from boredom – decided to accompany me and Momoshiro to the music room.

"Takashina-san," Echizen said as we walked. Momoshiro and I turned to him simultaneously.

I cocked my head towards him curiously. "Hai?"

"So, you really know Atobe, then?" He asked with an amused tone, staring up at me.

I grimaced openly. "Sadly," I breathed.

"I know, right." He replied, sharing a snicker with Momoshiro.

I raised my eyebrow at the two of them, a smirk beginning to form. "Tell me, what do _you_ know about Atobe?"

* * *

We made it to the right music room (on time, thankfully) in a fit of laughter. I didn't think there was so much to be learned from these guys about one Atobe Keigo. Oh, the things I could do with the information. _Cue cackle._

They saw me off at the door and I told them I'd see them again after my practice was over. Shutting the door behind me, I placed my bag on a free desk and as if on cue, Akazawa-sensei walked into the room through one of the numerous doors carrying a stack of papers.

"Oh, good," he announced joyously. "You're on time." He set the papers down on the piano stand. "Let's begin. Are you ready?"

"Hai, sensei." And just like that, my first official practice started.

Akazawa-sensei really wasn't the kind of man to mince words. He tells you when you're wrong; he tells you when you're right. His commentary was short and to the point. All in all, he seemed like a very efficient mentor for my current situation.

I was clearing my things up when he approached me with a letter and set it down in front of me. "I told you the other day that the preliminary round has been moved up and will occur in a month." He elaborated with a smile. "It will be held at this theatre. This paper is the list of guests you will be bringing. Kindly return that to me in two weeks. Is everything clear, Mai-kun?"

Smiling back at him, I took the envelope and bowed politely. "Hai."

"Good," he said, pulling on the lapels of his coat. "I'm sure you'll do wonderful. You're free to go."

"Thank you very much, sensei." I bowed once again before closing the door and making my way towards the tennis courts.

I stretched my arms over my head as I approached the courts. Seeing Oishi on the sidelines, I stood a few metres behind him so as not to disturb anyone. There was a doubles match inside the courts between Momoshiro-Kaidou pair and another pair of guys I wasn't familiar with. Their uniforms were different from Momoshiro's and the other regulars' so I assumed they were the less experienced members, which was ultimately pretty obvious judging by the way Momoshiro and Kaidou were creaming them while simultaneously arguing.

"What do you think?" Fuji suddenly said from beside me. How did I not notice him there? _Creepy._

I looked at his smiling face and then back at the match – mainly because his smiling face sent chills down my spine. "They don't get along much, do they?" I stated.

Fuji chuckled softly. "No, they don't. They've been like that for as long as they've known each other."

"I can imagine."

"Would you like to take a seat?" He asked me. While he still freaked me out a bit, he seemed really nice. He also seemed killer on the courts if the non-regulars' constant refusal to play him was of any indication.

Since he had no one to play against, he joined me next to my seat which was next to Tezuka's on the bench he had offered me earlier. Fuji was surprisingly easy to talk to. He just kept chatting lightly about tennis and halfway through I found myself bringing out scraps of paper so he could draw diagrams on them to supplement my learning process. Tezuka was quiet majority of the time, doing some racquet maintenance and the like. He only really talked when Fuji said or asked something that needed his interjection. But from what I could see, these guys loved tennis. And if they had Atobe's parents, they would also be candidates for the 'spending rest of life married to racquet' speech.

Taka-san, – as he asked me to call him – Oishi and Eiji passed by a lot of times to chat quickly or explain something. Eiji even stopped to make an elaborate doodle of his face on a piece of paper that Fuji was writing on for which Fuji stared at and chided him in such a way that made the red-haired acrobat laugh nervously and slowly back away.

"Will there be any tournaments soon?" I asked, putting another used piece of paper full of diagrams into my file and getting ready to leave. The regulars were packing up already and the non-regulars were clearing the courts.

Fuji shook his head. "The tournament this year started ended in the summer. It'll just be a few friendly matches because the third years have University exams to worry about."

That made sense. It also explained why the people at Hyotei were so high-strung last term. The tournament was still ongoing. I really needed to pay attention to these things.

"How about you, Takashina-san? You're here practicing for a musical concours, right?" He inquired.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

"Good luck with that," He smiled and for the first time I didn't shudder. "I hope you win."

"I hope so, too."

Momoshiro ambled up to us with Echizen in tow. "You're leaving, Takashina-san?"

"Piano practice awaits me when I get home, I shouldn't keep it waiting," I stand and give them a small wave. "Thanks for today!"

"Not at all," Fuji offers, waving as well.

"I'll see you tomorrow if you'll still have me," I say, slowly walking backwards.

Oishi interjects. "You're free to stop by anytime you'd like."

"Thanks again!" I call back towards them with a final wave – and I even see Tezuka nodding in acknowledgement – before turning around and walking towards the gates so I could get home.

Once outside, I dig my phone out of my bag and turn it on (I have to turn it off during practice)to see that Yuushi had sent me a message.

_Whatever you did to Atobe this morning, you are one of a kind. _

Somehow it made me regret not going to practice to see his reaction. _Just a little, though. _Seigaku practice was fun and Momoshiro and Echizen's stories about Atobe himself made it worth missing the undoubtedly comical scene he made.

* * *

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	11. Among Other Things

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* * *

After a (few) late-night incident(s) a few years ago involving me and a flight of stairs, my mom established a house rule that phones must be answered no matter what time of day – or night – it is. In accordance with the rule, my phone was always extra loud when I slept; it had become a force of habit over the years. It was never really something I minded because no one really called while I was asleep.

Presently, I was cursing the damn house rule as my phone rang out obnoxiously loud on my bedside table. It made me wonder why I chose such a grating message tone. I stuck my hand out of my sheets to grab my cellphone.

The illuminated numbers showed 4:52 and I threw my covers off and groaned. I woke up early recently but not _this _early. Flipping it open to check the messages, I almost threw my phone against the wall when I saw who it came from.

Opening it, the message read:

_URGENT _

...followed by an address of a nearby park. _How can I ignore such an obscure message like that? _For all I know he could be injured or in a life-threatening situation...should I go?

Yeah I should, I sighed.

I threw my legs out of my bed groggily, grabbed a worn pair of jeans, threw on a hoodie and slipped my shoes on before I closed the door behind me.

Outside there were a few people walking and jogging up and down the street with their dogs and whatnot. I resisted the urge to scowl as I saw that the sun was barely even out yet.

_This better be good. _I thought, yawning, before I jogged down the street.

Slowing down, I panted agitatedly as I neared a figure which I supposed was Atobe, lounging comfortably on a park bench with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. I stopped in front of him, glaring as hard as I was panting. Which was hard.

"That was fast," He said, lifting his head to look at me.

"What are you doing alive and breathing?" I ground out. "With a message like that you better at least have a broken limb!"

He got up and laughed lightly. "That explains why you got here so quickly. I wasn't expecting you for at least another half hour. Ore-sama is flattered that you care so much." He smirked, stretching his arms. "Since you were concerned, I'm in one piece."

Dropping myself into the bench he was just on, I looked up at him and stifled a yawn. "Not for long." I griped. "You do not send someone a message like that in the godforsaken hours of the day. I was expecting you to be on the verge of death, at the very least." I yawned again. "Now I realize that would have been preferable."

He smirked again. "Sorry to disappoint."

I frowned acutely. "Let's get to the point. Why have you awakened me from my glorious slumber in the ungodly hours of the night, or rather, morning?"

"I thought you might want to go jogging with ore-sama."

"'Thought' meaning I should go jogging with you." I deadpanned.

He smiled amusedly. "You catch on rather quickly."

Glaring, I sat up and poked him in his stomach. _Even half-awake I could really appreciate his abs. _"You wake me up at 4:52 in the morning to go jogging? Are you crazy, you asshole?" I could only slur the words with so much venom because I was still so sleepy.

"Humor me." He drawled, running his hand through his hair with a smirk.

"I was humoring you when I agreed to this fake-relationship. The prospect doesn't look too appealing." I stated.

He chuckled. "This is part of that. The initial deal, that is."

"Says who?"

"Nobody's said otherwise." He said matter-of-factly.

I stared at him long and hard, trying not to doze off while I was thinking. His face told me that he wasn't about to let me wander home until he got what he wanted. And I really didn't want to give him what he wanted but I really wasn't in the appropriate state to fight. "I'd argue with you but I haven't had the sustenance for any sort of mental acuity to properly function yet."

He raised his eyebrow at me. "I should take you out in the morning more often. Or stop feeding you." I rolled my eyes at him. "Get up. You're awake anyway."

Slowly and reluctantly, I pushed myself off the welcoming park bench and dragged myself towards Atobe.

There was no talking while we jogged. He stayed a good two meters away from me most of the time but checked every few minutes to see if I was still lumbering behind him. I tried to inconspicuously run away once but he noticed inhumanly fast and had his hand in my hood before I could get any distance. And needless to say, he was a lot fitter than I was because an hour later saw me ready to collapse on the grass next to the path we were on. Atobe looked back and jogged in place, looking like he was about to laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him as I leaned over, hands on my knees.

"Tired?"

Scrunching up my nose in annoyance, I gasped for air, trying to make a comeback. "I exhausted myself getting here." I managed. "Can I go home yet?"

"Already?" He drawled and I was ready to throw something at him. If only I could lift my arm.

"I think you realize that I'm not very athletic." I reasoned.

He started walking towards the bench we were at earlier. I followed after him sluggishly. "That's why you're here." _For you to make fun of my lack of athleticism? _ I moaned internally as I watched him drag a duffel bag from underneath the bench. "And you're aware that you'll have to walk back the same way right? Ore-sama walked here as well."

I threw my head forward tiredly, letting my hair hang down around my head like a black curtain. "I'll be on my way now." I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. From the corner of my eye I saw him extend a water bottle towards me. I took it with a grateful groan and downed half the contents in one go.

Just as I thought I was finally free to go, Atobe lowered his own water bottle from his mouth and smirked. "One more lap."

I gaped at him as he threw the bottle onto his bag and got ready to start again. "Are you trying to kill me?" Vaguely I remembered him saying something similar to that. _Is this revenge? What if this is revenge for what I did to him the other day in the library? He hasn't said anything about that since then. _An onslaught of thoughts about the library thing assaulted my mind and as I looked up at his face, I figured that my assumptions were pretty close to the truth.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye as he jogged past me slowly. "Not in the near future."

Looking at my water bottle, I could only gape for a few seconds before I threw the remaining ice-cold water into my face and jogged after him even more sluggishly than I had been doing earlier.

After the promised one lap, we made our way back to the bench and sat down. He looked at me amusedly before towelling his hair with a towel he got from his bag. I closed my eyes for a second when I felt the impact of something fluffy hit me square in the face. Snatching it from my face, I opened my eyes to see a towel and him repacking his bag and getting up. I looked up at him questioningly.

"Ore-sama will see you later." He said before walking off.

I looked at the towel in my hand and sighed as I covered my sweat-drenched hair with it. Good Kami, I still had school with him.

* * *

When I got home I had every intention of taking a shower and then going back to sleep since I still had a lot of time before school started but I found myself annoyingly awake and completely unable to go back to sleep.

So there I was, trudging to school at, what had become, my _'normal' _time.

I just neared the entrance of the school when a stretch black limo pulled up and I looked down at my shoes, fearing that I was right about who was inside, and tried my very best to avoid looking at who was getting out of the car. Briskly walking inside, I was stopped short by someone stepping in front of me. Sad to admit, but I squeaked. Yes, squeaked. Like a rat. _Oh, the trauma one jog in the middle of the morning can cause._

"Mai," It sucked that that was my name because I swore that was the worst word to here at that moment, in that voice. I sighed inwardly and raised my head to look at the most unthreatening person to ever walk the halls of the school at seven in the morning.

Not. Really, really not.

At this point I just really wanted to buy breakfast.

"Atobe," I greeted him disdainfully. Still so tired.

He looked at me for a second and I noticed the side of his mouth turn up before he turned his back to me and walked away. Vaguely, I registered he shoulders shake slightly as he leisurely walked down the hall. The bastard.

A few minutes later, all thoughts of Atobe were floating around in a dark cloud in the recesses of my mind as I pranced down the hall with my cream-filled, chocolate covered bread in hand.

With exhaustion forgotten, I happily made my way to the music room and stayed there practicing for about half an hour until I found myself in the halls again, eating another piece of bread. Halting in the hallway which led to the Student Council Room, I debated going in. After all, this could be another chance to annoy him. _Or for him to annoy me._

Chewing on the inside of my cheeks I treaded carefully towards the Student Council Room.

He was there again. As I was expecting. He had his legs up on the coffee table with a bunch of files on his lap.

"Eager to see ore-sama so soon?" He intoned as I stepped into the room.

Grimacing, I took a seat in his chair and propped my head up on his desk, bread dangling from my mouth.

"Fshuhh Uff," I told him through the pastry in my mouth.

He looked from his work to find out why that sentence did not sound as intelligent as he probably expected it to sound.

On his desk, my eyes were half-closed and observing mutely. I watched as he shook his head and went back to work. "How many of those can you finish in one sitting?" He asked me absently, tossing a folder into a pile.

Swallowing the last bite, I leaned back in his comfy swivel chair. "In the morning, about six, I think."

"Impressive." He drawled amusedly. "Open the main drawer and hand me the black file, if you will."

Shrugging, I did as he asked and stood to hand him the file. I cleared a spot on the sofa in front of him and sat down. I hazarded a guess about his earlier torture as I observed him. "Does your inviting me to jog with you have anything to do with my diet and/or my eating habits?'

He set aside his work and smirked as he looked me in the eye. "Among other things."

_Ah, I guess I was right earlier as well. _"Revenge?"

"Among other things," he repeated mockingly in a drawl. "After all, I wouldn't want you to keel over and die during the span of our _arrangement_."

Scowling, I grabbed a throw pillow from the sofa and hurled it at him. Again, needless to say, he dodged it with ease.

* * *

During morning break Atobe came into the classroom and sat on my desk, I looked up at him quizzically since he'd never actually gotten close in class. "What do you want?" I said quietly. Internally, I was thankful that whenever Yuushi or Atobe came, my classmates would gather themselves 'a respectable distance' away to give the royalty space. Royalty being Yuushi and/or Atobe, of course. They'd sooner step over me like a cockroach than allow me any special space.

"What's your waist line?" He asked bluntly and in all seriousness.

I stared at him from my seat disbelievingly. After a second, I straightened my book on his fingers. He scowled. "I'm not fat!" I declared as loudly as I could without the rest of the class hearing.

He gave me a look between amused and weary as he replied to me in a deadpan. "It's not that, you idiot. My mom is asking."

My eyebrows knit together in bewilderment. "Why would – " My inquiry was cut short by our teacher walking in and very meekly asking if Atobe would return to his classroom. Atobe looked at me and sighed lightly as he walked by me and fleetingly placed his hand on my shoulder.

_That was strange. _Considering that he was inhumanly out of character, I stared at the door he exited through with narrowed eyes for the next fifteen minutes as if I was expecting someone to walk through and tell me I was on Scare Tactics or something.

* * *

"What did you want to tell me that would not reach the ears of one Atobe Keigo, Mai-hime?" Yuushi asked me as he accompanied me back to the classroom from buying lunch.

"Seishun Gakuen." I started and his head snapped towards me. "Also known as Seigaku. I'm sure the name rings a bell." Realization dawned on his face.

"Is that where you went after school yesterday?" He asked, slightly surprised.

"Yep. And every Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday from now on." I informed him blithely.

He slung his arm over my shoulder and pulled me towards him. "Why?"

I shrugged. "Sakaki-sensei told me about this concours and had his friend who teaches at Seigaku mentor me for it."

Yuushi looked thoughtful for a second. "Concours, huh?"

Smiling, I nodded before exclaiming, "The winner gets to perform in London, Yuushi!"

He offered me a wide smile before bringing his hand up to ruffle my hair. "You better win then, Mai-hime." He said. "On another note, I suppose you don't want the information that you're staying at Seigaku to reach Atobe." He added with a conniving smile that made me quirk an eyebrow in his direction.

Patting him on the back, I stuck my tongue out at nothing in particular. "Please. I have an irksome feeling that Atobe-sama will be very irksome about it. And the Seigaku guys are so friendly, after all."

"Oh, you've met them?"

"Yup, and somehow I can see why Tezuka is Atobe's rival of sorts."

Yuushi smirked and put his arms around me again. "Interesting arrangement you have there, Mai-hime," he drawled quietly into my ear. "Update me on any developments." He straightened up and gave me a wink after he seated himself at his desk.

"Huh?" Confusedly, I tilted my head at him but I could nothing further as the teacher had walked in. The teachers were really getting in the way of my information gathering today. _Yuushi and his ploys…-sigh-_

* * *

As I was on my way out, I passed Yuushi at the entrance and I stared as he winked at me. "Yuushi, where are you going?" I called after him when I noticed he was going the opposite direction from the courts.

He waved his hand at me, clutching something in between his fingers. Upon further inspection, I realized it was a bright pink envelope. I shook my head and waved him off. He'd be breaking another heart today.

Absently, I remembered that I was supposed to invite Yuushi to the first round of the concours.

When I arrived at Seigaku this time, I was thankful that I knew where I was supposed to go and I didn't have to ask anyone for directions anymore. I made it to the music rooms in one piece and practice was over before I knew it.

"Hey," I greeted Oishi as I laid my book bag on the ground next to an empty bench. He waved back politely as Eiji tackled him and waved in my direction as well.

"You didn't have any problem getting around, Takashina-san?" Fuji said, walking towards me, his racquet resting on his shoulder.

I smiled sheepishly. "Not this time."

He chuckled before sitting down next to me. "What would you like to learn today?"

I grinned. "Is it alright for you to be here? I'd hate to be a bother."

"It's not a bother," He waved his hand dismissively. "I like going through those things. It's like preparation as well. And no one's playing against me right now anyway." That last sentence was followed by a customary shiver-inducing smile to which I responded with an uneasy smile of my own.

Inside, I was rather happy he was offering because I even brought an extra notepad solely for tennis purposes. I really was more of a theoretical learner.

About fifteen minutes after Fuji sat down next to me, Echizen came around with a can of Ponta and joined Fuji in teaching me.

"It's as simple as that," Echizen said matter-of-factly for the umpteenth time. It was rather amusing to have him do this. It would seem as though he was pretty good himself. Fuji acknowledged that it would probably simple for Echizen every time the cat-eyed freshman said it.

Hearing it again, I laughed. "You're a cocky kid, aren't you?" I addressed him amusedly.

He looked surprised for a second and I was about to apologize when his mouth formed a self-satisfied smirk. "It's one of my selling points."

Smiling widely, I was about to answer when Momoshiro came up from behind and pushed down on Echizen's head. "Is that what it is?" He teased, rubbing the freshman's head with his fist.

While the two roughhoused on one side, Fuji continued with his makeshift tennis lesson. After a while the two of us heard Inui calling him on the opposite side of the courts. "Ah, Takashina-san could you hold on for a bit?"

"Sure." I shrugged.

He surprised me by suddenly catching the attention of their resident buchou. "Tezuka, could you explain this to Takashina-san?" He called and then stood up.

In my seat, I sat ramrod straight in shock as Fuji told Tezuka what the two us were talking about and the latter walked over to where Fuji was previously seated and picked the topic up. It was the first time I'd heard the guy talk so much. The entire time, I was wondering how he felt about this. He was nice enough but he struck me as more than somewhat antisocial. But he even picked up on different new moves for me.

When Fuji came back a few minutes later, Tezuka asked me if I understood it and I answered honestly enough that I did. He excused himself and went back to his earlier post. When I raised my head to follow his movement I noticed how the other Seigaku students were staring at me curiously. And some rather murderously, not unlike how the Hyotei boys' fangirls stared at me at school.

Fuji smiled widely as he sat back down. "How was Tezuka?" He asked, distracting me from observing the people around the courts.

"He was very nice," I said mildly. "He doesn't seem to like talking much, though."

Fuji chuckled. "He'll warm up to you eventually. He still won't talk much but I'm sure you'll feel more at ease around him."

I chuckled. "I rather enjoyed myself actually. I was just…surprised."

"You're eyes looked like they were about to fall out the whole time." He answered calmly with a teasing edge.

"I just didn't expect him to be so accommodating, I guess," I exhaled before laughing.

The brunette chuckled. "It's understandable. He does give out that kind of aura."

I looked at the man in question standing inside the courts. The aura was like a cloud of seriousness that could be mistaken as screaming, 'do not approach me'. My eyes drifted to the people around the court again.

"What's wrong, Takashina-san?" Fuji asked.

Shaking my head absent-mindedly, I looked around. "Do buchou's rabid fangirls bother you, Takashina-san?" Momoshiro suddenly interjected and at the term 'rabid fangirls' I resisted the sudden urge to laugh.

It was unsurprising, of course, that a guy like Tezuka had fangirls but in circumspect, it was just hard to imagine him walking around with a hoard of fangirls at his tail. He just didn't seem the type.

Atobe on the other hand…

"You have them too, huh?" I found myself saying.

Momoshiro and Fuji shared a look as they started snickering. "Yes, we do."

"It has come to my attention that I am the only person who is within four meters of you. Should I relocate?" I stated, really noticing that no one was approaching them. It was understandable at Hyotei. Practically the entire high school tennis area was closed off and strictly tennis members only. Well, except me. That would've made me feel good about myself normally, but the Seigaku fangirls kind of made me wonder about my safety. "Why are they so far away?"

"There's no need for you to move, Takashina-san." Fuji said. "They're mostly just too intimidated to come any closer."

I really didn't like dwelling so I shrugged it off at his assurance. "If you say so."

* * *

_**Just a tiny little sidestory…**_

The next day at _Hyotei _practice, only one thing really stood out for me.

I was walking back to my usual seat from talking to my friends through the barricades when I tripped over something that wasn't there five minutes earlier. As I picked myself up off the ground, I turned around, disoriented, to see what I had tripped over. Shockingly, it was a person. A sleeping person? Who the hell slept in a place like that?

"Oh, excuse me," I scrambled onto my knees as he stirred awake. "I'm so sorry."

He blinked up at me blearily before raising his hand and pointing at me uncomprehendingly. "Takashina Mai," I offered politely as the meaning of his look dawned on me. It probably wasn't everyday that a girl stepped on you while you were asleep in a place that practically banned girls. He probably thought I was a fangirl.

"Akutagawa Jirou," he said through a yawn, extending a hand from his position lying on the ground. I took it confusedly and once I released it, he placed both his hands behind his head and was fast asleep.

Blinking slowly, I was about to get up when his eyes shot open again. I paused, surprised. "You're Atobe's girlfriend?" he asked. I twitched but nodded, nonetheless. "Oh." He intoned with a yawn and was unconscious again within seconds.

Once I was standing, I looked down at him with a perplexed expression on my face before I shook my head and stepped over him, strolling back to my usual bench.

_This team is just full of weirdos._

* * *

_**I hope you enjoyed! I'm sorry I'm a week late in updating, I fully intended on posting this last Saturday but something came up all of a sudden.**_

_**Thank for all the wonderful reviews and all my awesome reviewers. I love reading them so keep them coming!  
**_

_**Anyway...Tell me what you think! Read and Review, please!**_


	12. Meeting the Parents

**_Enjoy! _**

* * *

Did you know that Atobe jogged every day of the week except Tuesday?

Cause I knew. I knew _very well._

Since that first Thursday wherein he had me wake up at four in the morning to jog with him like it was the end of the world, he's been having me do it every single day, barring the weekends. And it's been a little over a week since then. It is not how I pictured my Friday mornings.

The second day it happened, I was still rather drained. The third day, Monday, I was annoyed. As he dismissed me that morning, he told me, "Same time tomorrow." I gaped as if he had just announced that he was going to elope with Yuushi. Or worse, Kabaji. I wouldn't have been too surprised if it were Yuushi, after all.

"What?" I managed to choke out.

He shrugged his bag strap on his shoulder. "You know what."

"What makes you think I'll even bother to go?" I exclaimed agitatedly.

He smirked. "It doesn't take much effort to make your cell phone ring."

_I think he's threatening my sleep. I can't have him threatening my sleep. _I wasn't about to give up just yet. "I can turn it off just as simply."

"You have a house phone." He replied smugly.

The argument went on for a while after that and, sadly, I was back in the same spot the next day. The guy knew how to argue. He resorted to every single thing humanly imaginable in the most irritating way universally perceivable. At some point, I even believed he implied something technically illegal but he would never attest to that.

It was an annoying arrangement to nth degree. I got up early to jog with him, went to school early because I was always glaringly awake afterwards and found myself still helping him out in the Student Council Room while I ate breakfast.

IT WAS SO DAMN ANNOYING.

I couldn't help it. He looked so pitiful with all the paperwork and stuff. And for some reason I could not understand, knowing he jogged every single morning before the sun was up made me feel even more pity for the guy!

It wasn't like he was asking to be pitied. The guy's pride was too high for that and whenever I even dared to mention to him that I was helping him out due to pity he scowled and glared and whatnot-ed at me.

_GAHHH! Curse my easily movable heart. Yuushi's soft-ness was rubbing off on me..._

* * *

Friday afternoon, it was after practice and Atobe didn't walk me to the gate like usual because he had some business to attend to. It was well enough in itself because my friends and I were planning to go out and do something together.

As my friends and I were walking out of the gates of Hyotei a familiar black limo pulled up in front of us and the back window lowered to reveal Atobe's inflated head. We all stopped in our tracks and stared at him in horror…well, I stared at him in horror, they stared at him with some more like awe. _Oh, you do not know what he is capable of._

"Are you available, Mai?" He asked placidly, propping his head up on his arm on the edge of the window.

I raised an eyebrow at him warily before I looked at my friends standing behind me. "As you can see, my friends and I were actually – " And not for the first time, my friends interrupted me mid-excuse. This time with a rather painful nudge which propelled me towards the car. If it weren't for Atobe's chauffeur suddenly materializing next to me and steadying me, my horrible coordination would've sent careening into the open window.

"Perfectly available," my friends chorused behind me.

Atobe smirked. "Great," he said leaning back into his seat and snapping his fingers at his chauffeur. The middle-aged man began to herd me to the other side of the car. From the corner of my eye, I saw Atobe send my friends a patented lady-killer smirk before rolling up his window. Behind me, I heard something heavy drop to the ground. _Let that have been one of the girls..._

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him testily, turning to face him on the plush leather seats. He had his arm draped across the back of the seat and looked for all the world like he was sleeping.

He sighed before answering me. "You'll figure it out when we get there."

"I think you're forgetting the blindfold," I deadpanned. He opened his eye a crack and smirked.

"Ore-sama didn't know you swung that way," He drawled.

In the frenzy of being dragged into a limousine, I'd forgotten I was still clutching onto my bag. "Oh, I'll swing something your way!"

Happily, that hit him square in the abs. And he even raised his shirt to check. Why was he so fit and annoying at the same time?

So, there I was, sitting grumpily in the back of a limousine with Atobe Keigo without anything else to throw at him since he robbed me of my book bag when I threw it at him the first time and it was now resting at his feet as we drove down the busy streets of Tokyo. When he was sure that I wasn't about to throw my shoes at him, – and I wouldn't because he would probably take them if I did and I only had one pair of shoes with me – he smiled at me mysteriously and then leaned back into the seat with his eyes closed.

I sighed, figuring he must be pretty tired after everything. I wasn't any happier being there but I left him alone. He looked relatively harmless when he was – I assumed – asleep anyway. And he even felt tired as we talked, well, argued earlier.

I was staring out the window, not really paying attention to anything when the chauffeur suddenly opened my door and I straightened in my seat with a start.

Staggering out of the car, I blinked in the bright light as I looked up at the building we had stopped in front off. "We're here." Atobe called, nearing the entrance. "Come on."

"Retail?" I asked once I'd fallen into step with him. He smirked at me and said no more.

Inside, we were greeted by a row of bowing employees who immediately began graciously ushering us into the elevator followed by a room very largely labelled VIP LOUNGE.

The VIP Lounge was a room filled with plush leather furniture and a whole lot of attendants sporting racks and racks of clothes. I glanced over all the designer shoes and dresses displayed around one side of the room while the other side held various shapes, cuts and colours of suits.

As I was about to open my mouth to ask Atobe what the hell was going on when I was whisked away by a female attendant into a spacious dressing room where more attendants were waiting, each holding a different dress.

"Atobe?" I called over the rustle of clothes.

"What is it?" He answered before I heard a softer, "Next."

In the span of the few seconds it took him to answer, I was seated in a swivel chair with some lady toying with my hair and another lady taking my shoes off.

"What's going on?"

There was a pause as I heard a zipping sound. "We're getting you a dress."

That was all I got from him since the attendants suddenly converged around me and I swore I saw my life flash before my eyes. You know how those things in the cartoons go where people spin you around and the next thing you know you're down to your underwear. Yeah, that happened. And then, they spun me around some more and I find myself in a dress. The process went on for a while. _Spin. Dress. Spin. Dress. _Over the course of my typhoon-esque dressing sequence, I repeatedly tried asking Atobe why the hell we were getting me a dress to which he replied he'd tell me when I got the dress.

About a dozen dresses later, one of the older looking attendants addressed me in a pleasant tone. "Takashina-sama, have you seen a dress you liked in particular?" _Not really, I haven't exactly registered any of the dresses I've put on._

Just as I was about phrase that to her in a more polite manner, I was cut-off (again) by a knock on the door. The attendant nearest to the door glanced at me and, seeing that I was still fully dressed – a rare moment in the past half-hour – opened the door slightly. From where I stood, I couldn't see who it was.

"Atobe-sama," Well, now I knew. She stepped out of the room, leaving the door ajar. On the other side, I could hear them talking but I couldn't make out the words. Giving up trying to listen to them, I looked at myself in the large mirror behind me, checking out the dress when I saw a slip of paper next to me and curiously picked it up.

What followed was me screaming in horror.

The people in the room started as I stomped towards the door and wrenched it completely open to see Atobe standing nearby in an unbuttoned dress shirt – which _reaaaallly _showed off his not underrated magnificence, but I couldn't afford to be distracted – and shaking his head exasperatedly with his fingers pressed to his temple. I took the time to make sure to keep my jaw hinged before I opened my mouth.

"I just said not to let her see the price tags," I heard him mutter to the assistant he just called out. Her apologies were lost on my ears as I stomped towards the barely dressed blonde.

"What the hell, Atobe!" I grated, keeping my voice as low as possible. To do so and still have him hear every word that came out of my mouth I had to stand irritatingly close. "You can't treat me to expensive food so you'll buy me expensive clothes instead?"

He lowered his hand from his face and instead looked at me with unconcealed amusement. If we weren't in front of so many people I would've decked him again. "It was ore-sama's mom's idea. She picked out the dresses and technically paid for whatever you get in advance already. She said it was a gift." He said matter-of-factly before nodding towards someone behind me and walking off.

While he was still at arms reach, I grasped at the end of his shirt and tugged slightly at the same time I felt a hand on my shoulder. I smiled at the lady and let go of Atobe's shirt. His head was turned towards me faintly and I gave him a frustrated look before turning around and walking back into the room. I decided that I might as well get it over with.

After another barrage of dresses in which I tried to really see what I was wearing – and tried harder not to think of the price of whatever I was wearing – I had at last found this really cute little black dress. It was black silk and cotton blend with cross over straps and an empire cut. The skirt of the dress had three layers to it but it was still really easy to maneuver in and very lightweight, – I could just imagine the thoughts entering my friends' minds if I told them that – which I figured suited me to an extent. If I was going anywhere with Atobe, the dress better have leeway for inflicting pain unto his person.

"That's a wonderful choice, Takashina-sama," the attendants chorused. I smiled cordially and did a gleeful spin in front of the mirror despite myself. I thought it was a really cute dress.

Having found a dress, I thought I was done until the attendants lined up once more, this time with boxes in hand. _Of course, shoes…_ I thought balefully, sitting down in one of the comfy chairs.

I was trying on a pair of shoes when Atobe's voice drifted over and I could only assume he was talking to me. "She didn't know what style you preferred so she went with colors to suit your 'exceptionally pale skin,' she said." He droned boredly. At his tone, I realized why it had felt like he was so tired earlier. It wasn't so much training and schoolwork, as his mom's pestering, I guessed.

"Is that so?" I chimed, slipping my foot into another shoe. This was gonna take a while.

* * *

I finally decided on a pair of soft black suede boots with a small buckle and slouch detail. It was unbelievably one of the shoes with the least amount of heel in the selection. Plus, the hidden platform inside was really helpful. But overall, they were still heels, my mortal enemy. Atobe's mom may have excellent fashion sense and did amazingly well in choosing the clothes in the room based off of one picture we took but I guess there was no way you could tell how coordinated a person was from just that.

After choosing the shoes, I was once again disappointed in my apparent not done-ness when they offered me a selection of bags next. I chose the simplest black clutch I could get my hands on and finally they dragged me to the mirror to check my make-up and hair one last time. They were about to bring out a selection of jewelry but I vehemently turned down the offer in light of the fact that I wasn't really a jewelry person.

A glance at my wrist showed a watch that I did not remember putting on my person. I looked at one of the attendants who smiled back playfully. I looked at the watch again and sighed. There wasn't much I could say about the make-up and hair other than it was really quite nicely done. My hair was kept almost as it was when I came in except they added something to give it some sheen and my make-up was light but made my skin look rosier than it was in reality but still seem natural.

I could've got down on my knees and praised the high heavens when they announced that I was done if it weren't for the fact that if I ruined anything we'd be back to square one of this grueling process. I thanked the attendants who helped me with the deepest bow I could manage in what I was wearing.

They had just opened the door when Atobe's voice carried over to me, "How is it?"

Looking outside the room I had been in for around two hours, I spotted Atobe standing with his back towards me in front of a full-length mirror being held up by two male attendants. If it were any other guy that I was annoyed at just a little less I would've said something along the lines of 'sexy' at what I saw in the reflection but since it was Atobe I settled for a more...self-satisfying response.

"Yeah, yeah. You look absolutely beautiful, Atobe-sama." I crooned, hand on my hip.

He turned around, annoyed, not really looking at me and fixing his tie which was a tad bit askew. Behind him I could see the younger male assistants stifling their laughter. I smirked as I appreciated Atobe's peeved reaction and his really _nice_-looking clothes. The suit he was outfitted in was simple but it was pretty obvious Atobe knew what he looked good in.

"I meant _your_ clothes, Mai," He said, still fixated on his tie and turning back towards the mirror.

I shook my head and slowly made my way towards him, careful not to fall. "You're mom has great style." I answered sincerely, tapping him on the shoulder so I could offer to fix his tie but he was already done by the time he turned back towards me.

"Of course, she's ore-sama's mom." He drawled before pausing and giving me an evaluating glance.

He looked me in the eye after a long pause with an eyebrow raised. "You clean up nicely."

Giving him my own eyebrow raise, I resisted the urge to throw my clutch at him and instead settled for a long sigh. "I've heard that before," I said. "And I'm afraid of the direction this particular conversation is going. So before we go there, will you find the decency in your heart to tell me what is going on?" _If you have a heart, that is..._

I was admittedly somewhat tired after my little clothing session. That was the most times I've changed clothes in one day, or maybe even a week, in my life. I wasn't exactly an avid shopper unless it involved food. Accordingly, I was not in the mood to tolerate Atobe's antics for much longer. And if he couldn't find the decency to tell me what was going on I'd run out of the decency to ask him in a relatively civil manner.

"I'll tell you in the car." He offered and I nodded in acceptance as the door to the outside world was opened. He put his arm around my waist as per usual and I gave him a dead stare to which he responded with the most willful smirk I'd seen on his face since he kidnapped me. It only took a slight twist of my ankle to skewer his foot. He arm dropped almost immediately and he glared at me, also the most willful0.. glare out of him this afternoon. _Ahh, achievements._

We were in the elevator when I finally thought to ask, "What about my uniform?"

"You don't need to worry about it."

It wasn't as if it was my only one but it better show up tonight, or else. He wasn't on my 'to be easily forgiven' list at the moment, or frankly, ever.

* * *

As he said, he'd tell me in the car. I held him to that. Firstly, I started off with something that's been at the back of my mind since it happened.

"Is this why you came up to me with that question the other day?"

He shrugged. "Ore-sama asked nicely."

I folded my arms across my chest, biting my lip in annoyance. "There's no way I would've found that nice if you're always telling me I'm fat."

He held back a smile at that moment, I just knew it. "Ore-sama has never explicitly called you fat."

"Keyword: explicitly."

"Fine, I'll tell you now..." He drawled.

I raised my eyebrows and gaped slightly. "Who asked you to?" I exclaimed.

Suddenly, he was sidled up close to me – too close, personal space please – and was leaning in even closer. I was suppressing an irritated eye twitch as he got closer. "You're not fat," he deigned to say. "You just eat a lot."

Since he had sidled up so close, his foot was in prime position to be stepped on by the heel of my boot. _Stilettos, they could have been by best friends..._

Effectively put off by the sensation of being stepped on with really pointy shoes, Atobe stayed at a safe distance for the rest of our conversation.

"Now that we have cleared the air of that very taboo topic, as you have learned the hard way," I began and he glared at me again. "Kindly tell me where we are going."

"Currently en route to the Atobe residence," he answered curtly.

"Why are we going to your house?"

He sighed, propping his elbow up on the window will and resting his head on his fist. "My parents are having a party there right now and they insisted that you attend as well."

"And you didn't think to ask me first?" _Like a normal human being, _I refrained from sobbing out.

"Ore-sama got you a dress," Atobe turned away and looked out the window, looking like a brooding little boy because his parents were being annoying. I resisted the urge to snicker because I didn't want to have to explain myself. Instead, I took up the same position he was in on my side of the car.

"Unfortunately, that is not equivalent to going 'hey, can I kidnap you and take you home to my parents' party,'" I said to the window in a purposely audible mutter.

* * *

Before I knew it the chauffeur was opening my door in front of a mansion no less grandiose than Atobe would ever settle for. There were a few people littered outside, getting out of their own limousines under the suddenly moonlit sky. _When did it get so late?_ It'd been a while since I'd attended one of these parties.

Atobe suddenly came around the car and offered his arm to me. I took a look at the proffered arm and then at his face, a customary dead stare on my face. This time, though, I was actually thinking about it.

He smirked, seeing the expression. "You're in heels," He stated.

I pursed my lips. "I know."

"There are a lot of people around." He added.

"I know." I sighed, taking the proffered arm and walking into the foyer full of people.

_Let's get this over with._

* * *

"How very polite you are, Atobe-sama," I said, covering my mouth demurely, as we walked away from another middle-aged couple in the midst of our journey to his parents. "Such contrast from when you suddenly ordered me into a car and proceeded to drive me halfway across Tokyo."

Simultaneously, the two of us bowed at an elderly lady that waved at us from the corner of the room and resumed walking when she turned away. At this rate, I would never get to meet his parents.

"You seemed willing enough," he said haughtily as he pulled me closer to his side to avoid a waiter with a tray of champagne.

I gaped up at him disbelievingly. "And you seem delusional enough," I retorted. "What part of flinging a heavy bag at you could possibly constitute as willing?"

He shrugged and turned his lips up in a minute version of his usual smirk that suddenly caused the glares I've been receiving from the younger girls since I stepped into the house to intensify. _Successfully ignored. _ "And that aside," I said impatiently. "You haven't fed me yet and I'm so hungry..." I whined, tugging agitatedly at his sleeve. He glanced down at me with an amused smile and proceeded to ignore my whining. I was about to complain more when he cut me off.

"I see my parents." He said suddenly and I rejoiced inside despite my hunger. Looking down, he gave me a hard stare. "Do _not _say anything unnecessary."

I gave him my own smirk as I tightened my hold on his arm. "Of course not, I still have to pay you back for all the _wonderful _things you've done for me these past three weeks." I said in the most velvety voice I could manage. "Least of all, bodily abducting me, right, pretty boy?"

His eyes registered oncoming danger as I proceeded to haul him towards the direction where he saw his parents with a strength afforded to me by his really muscular and sturdy arm. He couldn't put up much of a fight lest it be seen by an audience. "Takashina, what the hell are you planning?" He muttered sharply as we approached his parents.

"Why, to impress your parents, of course, what else could I be planning to do?" My tone was getting more irritably sweet by the step.

"Anything short of murd – "

"Keigo!" His retort was cut short by a female voice calling his name and I turned my face into his arm to hide my smirk before we began walking again, this time following his lead. _Oh, how the mighty fall in face of their mothers._

Within seconds of laying my eyes on his parents, I knew where he had gotten his looks.

From both of them.

The sharp blue eyes and more or less blonde hair obviously came from his mom. While everything else from his dad. Everything. I found it kind of freaky that they even had a mole in the same place.

"Otou-sama, okaa-sama, this is Mai." He introduced flatly, giving me a stare that could hardly be misconstrued as affectionate but his parents were too focused on staring at me to notice, I supposed. "Mai, these are my parents."

I had just went through the customary polite introduction and 'nice to meet you' niceties when Atobe's mother stepped forward and grasped my hand tightly as I was poised to bow.

"It's so wonderful to finally meet you, Mai-san. I'm Atobe Allyssa and this is my husband Yutaka." She said enthusiastically, leading me closer to the slightly imposing figure of Atobe's dad and causing me to release my grip on Atobe's arm. "Keigo has told us so much about you." _He has, has he? Interesting..._

Smiling politely but not insincerely, I bowed as best I could from my position. "The pleasure is all mine, Atobe-sama. I'm flattered that he speaks of me to you, I hope everything you have heard is to your liking." I say, turning to laugh curtly in the most convincing way possible as I glanced at Atobe standing a few feet away.

"Oh, we'll get to those stories later. I can't wait to hear your stories as well." She chimed. "And please, call me Allyssa." I did as she asked and she smiled so widely I was afraid she her mouth would get stuck that way. "You picked a wonderful ensemble here. I hope you liked the clothes I picked out for you." She commented, placing her hands on my shoulders and holding me at arms' length.

"Thank you very much, Allyssa-san, they were all very beautiful. But you really didn't have to go through all the trouble. I hate to be imposing on you."

"Nonsense! It was no trouble at all. I'm glad you like my gift. You really are much prettier in person," she continued to gush, I smiled sheepishly. "Not that you aren't pretty in pictures, of course. But one picture is so hard to go on."

At this point, Atobe-sama stepped forward as well and put his arm around his wife, making her step back and allowing me some room to breathe. "We honestly thought he'd be spending the rest of his life playing tennis. Keigo's outdone himself."

"Oh, I believe he's been doing well for himself so far." I smile sweetly at Atobe who proceeded to give me a smile that could have rivalled that of a dying hyena's. "He's very...dedicated."

The female Atobe let out a sound suspiciously close to a squeal before taking my hand again and then turning to Atobe who still had yet to move from his previous position. "Keigo, I see Sakurakouji-san waving you over. Oh, with her daughter as well! Why don't you go over there and have a chat with them while Mai-chan stays with us. I can't wait to hear what she has to say."

Hearing this, Atobe's head snapped towards me as I gave him a mischievous grin. "And I have so much to tell you, Allyssa-san."

"That's wonderful!" She exclaimed, before turning her gaze back to her son. "We'll see you in a while, Keigo. Enjoy yourself." She waved him off. "Don't forget to tell her that you're already taken, dear." Allyssa-san added as an afterthought.

Atobe turned around and I could tell he was trying really hard not to grimace. I caught his eye and waved at him coyly. "Please do." This time, he couldn't suppress the twitch of his eye which even his parents noticed.

"He can be so moody sometimes," Allyssa-san sighed.

That was the worst I'd ever seen a person's eye twitch in my life.

* * *

Atobe found me over an hour later sitting on a stool by the bar in their ever-so extravagant salon. "Welcome back, Atobe-sama," I greeted, raising the glass in my hand as he took a seat next to me. Discreetly, I pushed away the stack of plates I had amassed during my stay at the bar.

I turned to face him, placing the base of my drink on my knee as I crossed my legs. "You drink?" He asked blandly, motioning to the glass.

"Mocktail," I shrugged. He nodded and snapped his fingers and the bartender slid him a drink similar to mine.

"What are you doing alone?" He asked, propping his head up on the bar counter.

Downing the rest of my drink, I shook my head and smiled. "I was actually chatting with Kabaji-kun up 'till about five minutes ago before he went home with his parents." He raised his eyebrow inquiringly. "He doesn't talk much." I added.

He smiled a little before pulling his lips into a grim line. "What did you talk about with ore-sama's parents?" He asked with a practiced tone of annoyance.

"This and that," I waved my hand dismissively, laughing at the glare I received. "I didn't tell her about our deal if that's what you think." Something flashed on his face. Confusion, most likely. True, why wouldn't I jump at this opportunity to tell his parents...well..."I want to see how much I can play with you while it lasts."

He rolled his eyes and took a sip. "How predictable." He drawled.

I smirked. "Well, _you _didn't see that coming."

"Which brings ore-sama back to asking what you could have possibly told them," he said, placing his empty glass down on the counter.

"I'm actually more curious to find out what _you _told them about _me_."

"Is that relevant?"

"_Yes._"

He raised his eyebrow at me with the beginnings of a smirk before suddenly straightening in his seat. I tilted my head at him curiously.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, ore-sama was supposed to take you home," he began and I perked up immediately. "But my mother insists that we dance at least one set together before you go."

It would have been rather unladylike for me to drop my jaw on the floor, so I'll just say my jaw was a little closer to the ground than the norm. "I humbly, politely, and vehemently refuse." I deadpan.

"You can't do that." He answered simply, standing up.

"Why not?"

He smiled wryly. "Because my mother just got a camera to document the moment," he said, his eyes motioning towards a spot in the crowd where his parents were standing with a _photographer._ I resisted the urge to groan. _Atobe got his extravagance somewhere, it would seem. _"And a photographer to go with it, if you haven't noticed yourself." He offered his hand to me and I eyed it wearily.

_Let's get this over with, _I thought to myself again as I took his hand and carefully slid off my seat. "Why do we have to do this?" I muttered, glancing absentmindedly at the girls shooting me glares from all around the room coupled with the measuring glances from their mothers.

"_We_ have to put on a good show," He said, pulling me closer to him and then wrapping his arm around my waist.

I snorted quietly as he led me to the dance floor. "Unfortunately, Atobe, I don't dance." I deadpanned.

He smirked, looking straight ahead. "Fortunately, I do."

"So, I wonder how good a show we can put on when only one of us knows what to do." I bit.

Reaching the destined spot, he spun me so I was facing him and placed both his hands on my hips. Reluctantly, I wound my arms around his neck. "All you need to dance well is a good lead." He announced quietly, leaning into my ear.

I snorted again. "Would that 'good lead' happen to be you?" I supposed sarcastically. "'Cause I'd really rather be led by a cow."

He smirked and drew himself up to his full height. "Unfortunately for you, there are no cows available at the moment."

"Just one really high horse." I muttered under my breath.

When the music started, I think Atobe learned that no matter how good a lead he was, there was no correcting someone that really didn't want to do it right. Take for example, me.

"Ow," He hissed from the corner of his mouth.

I smirked. "I'm sorry. Another accident." I chimed, apologizing for my twelfth 'accident' in the past two songs.

"You stepped on ore-sama's foot with the back of your heel and that's the fourth time you kicked ore-sama in the shin." He griped agitatedly. "How can that still be an accident?"

My lips pulled into a coy smile. "I'm just _so clumsy_. Allow me to apologize, _Atobe-sama._"

He looked at me with piercing blue eyes to which I only grinned up at. His grip tightened around me as the dance called for an outside turn.

"_Oops," _ I grinned as my foot landed on the toe of his designer leather shoes. Though, in all honesty, it really was an accident.

Atobe looked as if he could tear his hair out right then and there if it wasn't for his mother standing a few feet away, gushing excitedly next to a photographer taking pictures of _us._

_Speaking of hair, actually..._

With my arms wrapped around his neck like they were, it was no problem for me to reach up and tug _tenderly _on a lock of hair at the back of his head.

"What the hell was that?" He gave me a stare that said _that-sure-as-hell-was-not-an-accident._

Tilting my head to the side innocently, I smiled up at him sweetly. "Just checking if it's real," I sing-songed.

"Why wouldn't it be?" He clipped defensively. "Ore-sama's hair is absolutely flawless."

I raised my eyebrow with a smirk. "Sources tell me you're known to have worn a wig in the past."

Under my arms, I felt him stiffen ever-so slightly. _Bull's eye._

"Do I know this source?" He said quietly, closing his eyes and breathing deeply in frustration.

Suppressing a giggle, I gave his hair a little tug again. "The source obviously knows you," I chirped. "But I'd really rather not tell you who it is." I thought to add something that indicated that it wasn't someone on the team to save them from oncoming despair but then I thought about Mukahi..._oh, poor, poor Mukahi..._and I resolved otherwise.

"Did this _source,_" he drawled the word as if he was in the mood to burn something. "tell you anything else?"

"We'll go through everything eventually, Atobe." I smirk. "Slowly and thoroughly."

Once the set had ended, it seemed as if he couldn't get me off the dance floor fast enough. He practically lifted me off the floor to get to his mom. It amazed me how graceful he could be even when he was so irritated...really, it did.

"Okka-sama, I'm sure Mai is tired by now and – "

"Yes, of course!" Allyssa-san interposed. "I'm disappointed to see you leave so early but I'm sure you've had quite the day yourself. I hope you enjoyed Mai-chan."

Internally, I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, I really was quite tired. "It was really nice meeting you, Allyssa-san." I bowed. "Please send my thanks to Yutaka-san." I added as I noted that the older male Atobe was not in the vicinity. "I'll be taking my leave first, then."

She seemed to consider something first before suddenly throwing her arms around me. "It really was wonderful meeting you today, dear." She smiled, releasing me as I offered her a confused but not unhappy smile of my own. She nodded at Atobe, who took it as a cue to wrap his arms around my waist again and begin hoisting me towards the foyer where still more people were entering. It was one hell of a party if you still arrived past midnight. "If you see your parents soon, give them my regards." She made a demure wave after me and I turned back a little to nod and smile.

Looking up at Atobe, I saw that his cellphone was already pressed against his ear.

"Oshitari," he said curtly as we approached the limo that was already parked up front. "Morning practice starts on Monday."

Just like that, he snapped his phone shut and gracefully motioned me into the back of the car where the chauffeur was holding the door open. Warily, I slid into the seat, my eyes not leaving his face which held an expression that told me I would have to apologize to Yuushi on Monday.

When the door clicked shut and the limo exited the Atobe's rather long driveway, I let out a tired sigh, collapsing against the door. Something rustled behind me. I sat up and turned around to find a garment bag hanging on the side. Atobe nodded for me to open it. I did and found my uniform inside.

"Was my uniform just dry-cleaned?" Upon closer inspection I found my schoolbag as well.

"Details are important." He answered absently.

Zipping it back up, I moved it a little further so I could have more space to recline against the door.

"My toes hurt," I mumbled. After a while heels really did start to pinch.

"You're one to say." Atobe drawled.

"You aren't the one in heels." I quipped, smirking.

"You weren't the one on the receiving end of the heels." He retorted.

I smirked wider, running my hand through my hair. "Well, you were the one who forced me to dance in said heels."

Atobe sighed and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. _Ahaaa...why does he look good in a suit..._I sighed mentally, only just now taking the time to enjoy his attire because I had been too frustrated with him during the party. And plus, he was moonlit. I've read that everyone looks good in moonlight. How corny was that. _Oh, Yuushi._

Leaning my head on the seat, I closed my eyes, relaxing against the cool leather. "You're mom is unbelievably energetic, very enthusiastic..." I breathed, just audible enough for him to hear.

I could hear his smirk as he answered. "She's always wanted a daughter-in-law."

At that, I cracked one eye open and looked at him as he stared back at me. An amused smile formed on my face. "Not a daughter?"

"You heard ore-sama right the first time."

I closed my eye again and chuckled.

"Ne, Atobe," I addressed him casually with my eyes closed. He wasn't asleep, I could hear the clicking of the keys on his phone.

"Ahn," he drawled in acknowledgment.

"What do you think Mukahi would like as a birthday present?"

The sound of keys clicking abruptly stopped and I suppressed a chuckle.

"Mukahi's birthday was last week ago," he said slowly.

"Exactly," I said, snuggling more comfortably into the seat. "He remembered I hadn't given him one in a random bout of annoyance and now he won't stop bugging me to get him a present because I didn't know about it. I figured I'd award his being persistently irritating."

Atobe chuckled curtly before the clicking resumed. "He rather likes bungee jumping, ore-sama believes. Buy him a tether and then throw him off the roof."

I laughed sleepily. "I just might do exactly that."

* * *

I figured I'd dozed off – the seats of his cars were so comfortable – because the next thing I knew, we were pulling up in front of my building and Atobe was getting out of the car with my uniform and schoolbag slung over his shoulder. The chauffeur pulled open my door and I walked carefully to where he stood waiting in the foyer. I grabbed for my things and he pulled them out of reach. I glared tiredly.

"I'll bring you up to your place." He said with no emotion in particular.

"I told you it was fine." I tried for my clothes again but to no avail. "There's no need."

"He's watching me." He stated flatly, motioning discreetly to his chauffeur who was poised outside the car with his gaze fixed on us. His mom probably put the poor man – the chauffeur, not Atobe – up to the task of spying on her son.

I sighed and headed for the elevators. "Fine. You get up there and you leave."

The ride up to the eighteenth floor was longer than usual – it was the highest floor – but not particularly awkward as the two of us didn't really say anything, which was a common occurrence. Once the doors slid open, we stepped out and headed to one of the two flats on the floor where I brought out my keys and unlocked the door.

Inside, I was the first one to step through the door and I proceeded to pull off my boots after flicking the lights on. Atobe sauntered in slowly but haughtily, laying my belongings on the table next to the door. He gave the place a quick survey before looking down towards me – I was a lot more _down _now that the heels were off – and raising his eyebrow.

"You live alone?"

* * *

**_I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's a little(or a lot) longer than usual because this is two chapters stuck together. And this is two chapters stuck together because when I finished the "first chapter" and the "second chapter," I realized that not much really happened in the "first chapter" - I have a thing for shopping scenes :D - so I tacked on the "second chapter" as well. I hoped you liked the length but I can't assure you that all the other chapters will be this long. ^^_**

Anyway, tell me what you think about it!

READ and REVIEW, please!


	13. A Little More

_**This chapter is considerably shorter than the last one so hope you don't mind too much. I had fun with the Seigaku characters in this little chappie.  
**_

_**Please enjoy!**_

* * *

"You didn't know that?"

He looked almost pained to say what I already knew but he managed to get it out anyway. "No."

The corner of my mouth pulled up in a goofy smirk at his admission. _He actuall didn't know something, _ I cackled mentally. It's a simple pleasure, really. "Awesome."

That earned me a glare that would've had me cackling in real time if it weren't for the fact that I was really too tired to do so. "This didn't come up in conversation," he said with a questioning edge.

I shrugged. "It really did seem like something that would come up in my file."

He brought his hand up to run it through his hair in frustration. "You should know that ore-sama didn't read everything on that file. Ore-sama isn't obsessive."

"Glad to know." I said, plopping down into the chaise lounge directly behind me. "And I _did _tell you that first time when you brought me home that my parents were out."

His hand stayed in his hair as he sighed and looked at me as if he were conversing with a ten-year-old. "Needless to say, ore-sama understood that in a different context."

I was already laying flat on the chaise, looking up at him as he walked around to stand by the headrest. "That's your problem, then, Atobe-sama."

"Does Oshitari know you live alone?"

"Of course Yuushi knows. He helped me move in."

By this time, he was leaning haphazardly on the headrest as he scanned my living quarters. Hey, I liked my place. It was large, technically too large for one high-school student to live in but it was mine and I'd be damned if he found something decent to criticize. I wanted to sleep and he was being a hindrance to that wish, I would show no mercy if he even tried to say anything remotely irritating.

At my saying that Yuushi knew, his eyes glanced down at me for a second before he straightened himself and shrugged. "You don't seem to be in a state to hold a proper conversation with ore-sama. We'll talk about this when you're feeling more..._alert._"

I chucked one of the boots in my hand at him arbitrarily and he caught it with a smirk and put it on the floor next to me. "I'll see you, then." He drawled, walking back to the front door, slipping one hand into his pocket, looking at me over his shoulder, and then shutting the door behind him. _This guy just lives to be dramatic, _was my last thought before I dropped my head back onto the cushions and succumbed to the blackness.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up with a start. And a fall.

Picking myself off the ground, I managed to make my way to the kitchen to grab a snack, not caring that I was still in my dress and make-up. Once I had rummaged through my refrigerator, I hopped onto the counter, my bare feet dangling over the edge as I glanced at the clock nearby.

Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I was happy to note that there was no need to rush into doing anything and I could take my time snacking before I did a quick practice and got myself to Segiaku.

I mulled over the events of the previous night and smiled to myself when I remembered his parents. I wiggled my toes around when I recalled our little dancing episode and proceeded to hop of the counter and meander into the bathroom to wash my make-up off.

It then occurred to me that he would undeniably pick up where we left off and I would have to explain to him a living situation that I had thought he was already aware of all this time. I sighed and stepped into the shower, hanging up my new dress and making a mental note of having it properly dry-cleaned when I got the chance.

After all, it was still a really nice dress.

* * *

Right as I rounded the corner that would lead me to the Seigaku gates, I saw a car pull up in front and a familiar brunette step out. As I reached him, I caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman waving at him from inside the car. "Take care, Syuu-kun," she called as she sped off down the street.

I stood a little ways to the side and cracked a smile at Fuji sedately waving goodbye at the car.

"Syuu-kun?" I chirped, amusement laced in the two syllables of his newfound – well, to me – nickname.

He turned, noticing me for the first time and his usual smile which used to creep me out. Now, I found it rather endearing. "Takashina-san, welcome back," he greeted as per usual.

"You can stop greeting me like that." I told him with a playful smile as I walked over. "I will be here time and again, you will simply get tired saying it. This is me stopping you before you do."

He smiled wider and motioned for me to walk with him inside. I happily obliged. "If you insist," he chuckled.

"Before you lead me off topic," I chided. "I am rather curious as to that mystery lady with such a cute nickname for you, _Syuu-kun._"

Fuji laughed good-naturedly and sent a smile in my direction. "Care to guess?"

"Your sister?" I hazarded.

"Right on the mark." He said lightly. "What gave it away?"

"Both of you exude an otherworldly beauty." I grinned.

His smile widened. "How flattering. Perhaps you'd like to call me that as well?"

"Oooh, I'll take you up on that offer, Syuu-kun!"

He chuckled. "Do you have any childhood nicknames to offer me?"

"There's not much to do with my single syllable name, fortunately."

We had just about reached the entrance of the tennis courts when Fuji placed his tennis bag down. Giving my watch a glance, I waved at Momoshiro before taking off in the direction of the music room.

* * *

Akazawa-sensei reminded me about the guest list as I left and I made a mental note to ask Yuushi when I got back to school on Monday.

Just as I was tacking that mental note onto the corkboard that was my brain, Eiji suddenly appeared behind me and clapped his hands onto my shoulders. Successfully scaring the hell out of me and making me lose my balance which would have caused a collision of my face and the ground if not for the offending hands on my shoulders. "Mai-chin!" He exclaimed cheerily, apparently oblivious to my (almost) distress. Well, no harm, no foul but..._Mai-chin?_

"Eiji," I heard Oishi scold the red head who still had his hands firmly placed on my shoulders. "It's not appropriate to do that so suddenly to people. What would you have done if Takashina-san got hurt?"

I used the hand that wasn't holding onto my bag to pat the back of one of Eiji's own hands with a light chuckle. "Oh, that's alright, Oishi-kun. I believe that as long as there is no blood shed, it doesn't constitute as hurt."

At my blithe response, Oishi began fawning like a mother hen. I looked on amusedly before Eiji began herding me away with the hands on my shoulders. Once we had gotten to my usual bench, he applied pressure which I took as an offer to sit down. Just as I did, he released me and flounced off someplace in a rush. Beside me, I found a beaming _Syuu-kun._

"Hi, Syuu-kun," I said humorously. "Figured out a sickeningly adorable childhood nickname for me yet?"

He shook his head lightly. "For now, I'll settle with a simple Mai. Although I believe Eiji has decided on one of his own nicknames for you."

As if on cue, Eiji bellowed out an energetic "Mai-chin!" that had me looking around for its source. Looking ahead, I suddenly came face to face with Inui, a mischievous glint in his eye – or rather, glasses – and a notebook in his hand. I gulped involuntarily.

How I found myself at the center of the Seigaku regulars sans Tezuka – well, kind of sans Tezuka, after all, he was sitting on Syuu-kun's other side the whole time – I will never know. Even Kaidoh had materialized behind Inui at some point or another.

"So, Takashina-san," he started suddenly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I have a few things to clarify with you."

I raised an eyebrow at that but found myself nodding anyway. "Clarify away."

"Is it true that..." And he proceeded to prattle away details of my life from the very hour of my birth to the most mundane things that I could barely even remember in a manner which belied his initial statement of having 'a_ few_ things to clarify' with me. He had my family history down to the number of times I fell down the stairs like no one should know. For some reason, there was this impending sense of dread that encompassed me as he reached my Hyotei schooling. And then it occurred to me that with all the information he had, he most probably – almost definitely – had that itsy-bitsy piece of information that was the crucial point of my current social life, as sad as that may be. "And..." He trailed off and I looked up at him as he fiddled with his glasses again. Taking a deep breath and bracing myself for the direct association between me and A – "...that's about it." Well, that took the wind right out of my sails, I laughed heartily in my mind.

I collected myself before I proceeded to laugh out loud in no small amount of humor. "I have to admit, Inui-kun, that was kind of freaky."

Eiji chuckled behind. "He gets that a lot."

Inui simply replied with a smirk and another glint of his glasses. "Is my information correct?"

"Scarily so." I admitted. "Right down to the things I don't even remember."

* * *

After Inui's stalker narration of my life which I took surprisingly in stride as compared to Atobe's own version of invasion of privacy, the regulars got to work actually practicing under the watchful eye of one Tezuka Kunimitsu, who, surprisingly enough, actually listened to the stalker narration of my life. Not like he had any other choice. All his regulars were listening to the tales of the girl who fell down a well. And this girl was not part of any horror movie installment.

For once, Fuji had actually been paired up with an unsuspecting second year and I was left to my own devices. As I looked on, I realized that the non-regulars were getting creamed and it was a series of sad matches one after the other. Their practice gave me a bit of time to ponder over how to tell Atobe about the living situation which was just reiterated to me minutes prior as part of Inui's detailed findings. There was always presenting it to him like Inui's data just did. Another part of me simultaneously dissected how Atobe's utter arrogance had poised me to hate him from the get-go. Considering the extenuating circumstances that had occurred from that get-go my debatable hate-dislike of him could work for the good or the bad. This intense reflection was interrupted, however, by the arrival of two red headed girls a few years younger than me.

"Who are you?" The brasher-looking of the two girls addressed me. I was amused by her blatantly hostile tone. Also, I saw her glaring at me the past few practices. I suspected she was one of the fangirls.

"Tomoka-chan!" The other girl scolded abashedly.

I tilted my head at them kindly. "Takashina Mai, yoroshiku."

The girl who I now knew as Tomoka brushed her friend's chiding off and placed her hands on her hips stubbornly. "What's your business here? What's your relation to the tennis club, Takashina Mai-san?"

"Just a bystander." I answered, smiling mildly.

A moue made its way to her face as the other girl in the braids simply tried to tug on her friend's collar and drag her away.

Her brow furrowed as I continued to smile up at her from my seat on the bench. Three boys about her age and dressed in sports attire approached us then, and the one that oddly reminded me of Oishi spoke up. "You're from Hyotei, aren't you?" His voice was polite but obviously curious.

"Yeah." I confirmed honestly. I mean, there was no hiding it, after all. I often watched practice in my school uniform.

"Are you a spy?" One of the other boys, a light brown haired kid, exclaimed rather loudly.

I swept my French braid over my shoulder absently. "No, not a spy, I don't think I know enough about tennis to be a useful one." I offered, hoping it would appease them.

The loud boy puffed his chest up suddenly. "Hohohoho, so very unlike this Horio," he pointed at himself ostentatiously. So his name was Horio, I remarked quietly in my head, amused at his flamboyance. "who has had years of tennis experience! You Hyotei people – "

This is where he was abruptly shut up by the rest of his friends excluding the redhead in braids with a passionate "Shut up, Horio!"

The girl, Tomoka, returned her attention to me. "Anyway, Takashina-san, you're not here to spy on us?"

"Nope."

"More importantly, you're not here to try and steal Ryoma-sama, are you?" She said intensely, folding her arms across her chest.

I blinked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

That seemed to settle it.

* * *

Since it was established that I was neither a spy nor a thief intent on stealing away Echizen Ryoma's heart, the five first years, as they had informed me, properly introduced themselves before gathering around me, much as the regulars did earlier, and asking all sorts of insider info about Hyotei that I was not exactly inside enough to know. They decided on interrogating me about, not the players' tennis, but their, apparently intriguing, personal lives.

Tomoka, who introduced herself as Echizen's number one fan, leaned close. "How about that jerk captain, Atobe Keigo?"

I promptly choked on my own spit as I tried to stifle my laughter. "What about the jerk captain Atobe Keigo?"

"Is he really as much of a jerk as they say he is?"

"How much is that?"

"Well," she was just about to answer when the other girl, Sakuno, interrupted with a broken 'excuse me.'

I turned to her curiously, wondering what she had to say about Atobe. She fiddled a little with her braid as she spoke to me. "I don't think he's such a bad person, Atobe-san, that is."

Raising my eyebrow imperceptibly, I urged her to continue while the other four freshman suddenly looked as if they were trying to remember something. "Well, he did help Ryoma-kun during the Nationals a few years ago..."

I inched closer to her, even more curious about how Hyotei's dear Atobe-sama helped his sworn rival school in something as national as the Nationals. Sakuno continued to relate the events three years prior involving Atobe, Yuushi, a helicopter, and a rather complicated story of Echizen having amnesia. Although, I have to admit one of my favourite parts of that particular story was when Tomoka interjected to tell me about Atobe's hair mishap, even though I already knew about it. It was just so funny no matter how many times I thought about it. There was also that bit about Taki in there that I remember from Momoshiro's account of it as well. I tacked on another mental note to mention that little event to Taki when I got the chance. We've been hanging around together more often as of late. It would seem that my back-up babysitter when the regular regular member ones weren't around was Taki.

After Sakuno's recap of those momentous events, Tomoka scoffed in defeat. "He wasn't a jerk at that moment, I guess. If I wasn't your best friend and he wasn't Atobe Keigo, I would think you had a crush on him."

Sakuno blushed hotly. "Tomoka-chan!" she exclaimed, garnering laughter from her friends at her none-too-timid denial. I chuckled jovially as well.

"Don't worry about it, Sakuno," Tomoka appeased. "No one in their right mind would ever want to be that guy's girlfriend."

I paused for a second in my chuckling before I laughed even harder at her statement. It made me wonder what kind of wrong mind I was in at the time.

_Revenge. _My thoughts cackled wildly. I smirked. The best mind to be in.

* * *

"Ne, Mai-chin," Eiji came up to me as practice was just about finished. The freshmen had cleared out, the girls to fawn over Echizen, the boys to do their freshmanly duties.

"Yeah?"

"You can call me Eiji." He smiled charmingly like he always does. This sudden statement probably stemming from the number of times I called out Syuu-kun in that name. Momoshiro had already approached me and told me to call him Momo-chan. A name which I simply just couldn't oblige him so I settled for a simple Momo.

I smiled. I've been strangely euphoric today. "I hope it's alright but I already call you Eiji."

His face changed to that of a cat's as looked at me. "You're right. You do call me Eiji." He chuckled. "Well then, carry on!" He said energetically as he marched off.

I actually stayed until the regulars themselves started to leave this time and discovered that I lived in the same general direction as one stoic buchou, Tezuka Kunimitsu.

I waved at the others as he bade them goodbye in his own way, before beginning on our trek towards the train station. There was an amiable silence between us as we continued to walk down the sidewalk at dusk. Yuushi would call the scene romantic but I simply couldn't fathom any sort of romance being associated with the human being next to me so it was simple enough to brush it off. I paused as a thought entered my mind.

Noticing my pausing in the middle of the sidewalk, Tezuka followed suit and politely halted his steps as well. "Is there anything wrong, Takashina-san?"

I smirked. "Do you know of a hardware store nearby, Tezuka-san?"

He looked as if he wanted to ask but, in the end, didn't and imply obliged my strange request.

After our little detour at the hardware store, we went straight to the train station and had to part ways after two stops.

Tezuka'll probably have a hell of a time wondering why the hell I bought a tether.

* * *

_**So, this chapter was mostly about developing Mai's relationship with the Seigaku characters. I hope you liked it. The reason why Inui didn't mention her **__**fake**__**-relationship with Atobe will be revealed in the later chapters.**_

_**I hope I can have then next chapter up soon, same goes for MDMA because I'm really focusing on this one first but I'll definitely update that soon as well!**_

_**I hope you liked the chapter! Your reviews are awesome everyone, so keep 'em coming! They just absolutely make my day when I read them.  
**_

_**Tell me what you think! READ and REVIEW, please!  
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	14. You're Asking

**Here it is! Enjoy!**

* * *

It was Sunday, there was nothing to do except practice my concours piece – a rare situation in the past few weeks since school had started – and I had every intention of sleeping in until the latest possible time when my phone went off on my bedside table. A strange feeling of déjà vu came over me as I dragged myself up to a semi-sitting position and drew my knees up so that I could rest my head on them as I stared at the digital clock next to my phone.

I stared at the blinking numbers. _10:42 am_

_10:43 am_

_10:44 am_

_10:45 am_

_10:4 – _I jolted up and snatched my cellphone of the table, snapping out off my bleary-eyed daze.

_Meet me at -_

The one sentence on the message stared back at me as if in mockery and I glared at it, my glare sharpening when I saw the sender's name again. _That inconsiderate bastard! Thinking he owns my time. _

I snapped my cell shut and tossed it towards the foot of my bed, intending to get some more sleep and ignore that pretty boy's message.

Just as my eyes drifted shut, the phone buzzed again at my feet and I snatched it up in frustration.

Almost as an afterthought, the message read:

_I'll treat you to lunch._

I was set to ignore that, too, if only my stomach hadn't growled as I read the word 'lunch.' Scowling, I dropped back into bed and told myself to forget about it. And I was about to do just that when my stomach, as if it had its own mind, growled so viciously that I was prompted to sit up and actually consider my situation.

Staring across the room at my door, I mulled over the fact that I was out of groceries to make a filling meal and the fact that I had three bowls of instant ramen for dinner. Also, Atobe was offering me a free meal – probably in exchange for information, I knew. All in all, it was a bad situation and a not so bad situation at the same time.

Sighing, my head lolled forward in between my blanket covered knees before I clambered out of bed and to my closet.

_The things I'd do for food._

* * *

It was unusually hot out, to say the least, as hot as a summer day would be. And I hated hot days. The kind of days that made me curse how my hair so darn long. My hair was already pulled as high as it would go and it was still so hot. I'd told my mom before I'd have it cut just a little shorter but I knew that it was futile. My grandma had standards on quite a number of things. Hair was one of them, unfortunately. I think all the forcefulness that she decided not to exert on us regarding marriage was transferred into all the other aspects of life.

And as I stared at the sign that informed me that I had reached my destination, I wasn't cursing the weather or my hair anymore.

_Atobe._ I seethed silently as I made my way up the steps of _Atobe Sports Gym._

The inside was classy, modern, and looked like it was built for an Atobe, simply put. The message he sent me simply told me to meet him at this address before noon. It was half past eleven and I had absolutely no idea where in the building he was. So, like any sensible person, I went to the front desk to ask for him. The reply I got was a pointed glare from the lady at the front desk that remained fixed on me even as she picked up the phone to call – I presumed – Atobe. She looked to be in college, in her late teens or early twenties, and – apparently – still within the range of Atobe's attractiveness if her glare was any indication. If half of my body wasn't covered by the countertop, she would've probably given me a proper once over instead of the half one she was gave me as she asked for my name which she repeated over the phone.

After replacing the phone in its cradle after a polite and curt conversation, she stood abruptly and told me to follow her. Having no other choice in the matter if I wanted my food, I followed the lady that probably wanted to flay me alive as she led me up a flight of stairs and knocked on one of the doors. I heard Atobe's voice call us in. She gave me one last glare before opening the door for me, bowing politely and subsequently missing my behind by a hair as she practically slammed the door behind me.

I was in a room that appeared to be a private training room from what I could gather. Every piece of exercise equipment I have ever seen from my (admittedly scarce) visits to the gym were littered around the room, coupled with machines that I had never seen before in my life and never intended on using either. But what stood out the most was not Atobe staring at me expectantly from the other side of the room, sweat dripping down the tips of his hair, skin glistening in the fluorescent lights, looking like _I _should know that he looked like a Greek god; it was the little detail that the room felt like a sauna and I felt like melting into a puddle at his feet for totally different reasons than I'm sure he thought.

As such, the first words to come out of my mouth were: "Can you not afford air-conditioning in your state of the art fitness center?"

He smirked at that, as per usual, and put the weights he was using back down on their rack. "I suppose the lure of food was too much to refuse."

Unwilling to concede to him that that statement was true, I scowled at him then settled for scanning the walls for the thermostat control. Finding it behind where he stood, I grudgingly started towards him. "Are you trying to tell me something by bringing me here?" I said as I tinkered with the temperature, bringing it down to an acceptable level as he sat down on a bench next to me, leisurely sipping at his water.

"Only if you think I am."

"Oh, shut up," I complained, plopping down next to him. "What did you want?"

"To take you out to lunch." He deadpanned.

"That was the bait." I said just as flatly. "What's the catch?"

He raised an eyebrow at me patronizingly, running a hand through his hair the way he did and making droplets of sweat scatter around us and on me. I stared at him exasperatedly and then stood up.

"Hurry up, then." I took a towel from the pile beside me and wiped his sweat off my arm before throwing it at him. He caught it flawlessly, as always. _Damn athlete. _"This fish will only nibble on the bait for so long."

He threw the towel over his hair and looked up at me, that sharp-eyed look that made girls swoon and made me want to gag, and his smirk widened. "There are a lot of fish in the sea."

Out of the blue, there was this bubbling urge to laugh I just couldn't resist. "Unfortunately for this fish, the hook hunted it down."

* * *

When Atobe got out of the shower he found me as I was cooling down directly under the air-conditioning vent. While he was showering, I had turned the temperature down to the lowest it would go, relishing in the cool feel of the air on my skin. I looked up at him from my position, cross-legged on the floor and smiled contentedly. The feeling was so good I almost forgot I was hungry. Almost.

"Are you ready to go?" He said, eyebrow raised at me curiously. Nodding, I glanced over at his grey hoodie, jeans, and tennis shoes.

I pulled myself up, and fixed the temperature with the remote I found while he was gone before I placed it down on a bench. "I was ready to go before I even got here."

He motioned to the door with his head and I ambled forward to stand next to him as we went down the stairs. We got to the bottom of the steps and he wound his arm around my waist just as we got to the lobby, making it obvious to all the employees present. He excused himself as a proper young master would and we walked out of there without glancing back. I could've sworn there was something stabbing at my back. _The mental swords of scorned women._

Once we'd reached the end of the block, I peeled his arm off of me impatiently and pulled away until there was a breathable distance between us. "It's hot and I need more space. That's enough touchy-touchy for those people to tell your parents that I'm 'too close to their obocchama.'"

Flicking his hair out of his eyes, which made girls stare and drool in the process, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and smirked, coolly keeping my requested distance away. Atobe was too proud and too classy to mention how his hotness probably had something to do with the hotness I was complaining about. So, he settled for one of his 'ore-sama knows ore-sama's hot' smirks.

"Wipe that smirk of your face and feed me, Atobe." I elbowed him in the stomach brusquely and dragged him across the street.

He fell into step with me properly once I'd let go of his arm and directed me down the street to wherever the hell we were eating. "You really are quite a – "

"Shut it, pretty boy."

Shrugging again, he gave a curt chuckle before stopping abruptly. We were in front of a small but high-end restaurant just barely in the vicinity of Ginza and he began walking up the stairs after motioning for me to follow. I didn't think twice. I took the steps two at a time to get to air-conditioning and food.

We were seated immediately despite the death glares I was receiving from the hostess and the younger waitresses. Once we'd ordered – _talk about hostile service – _Atobe cradled his head in his palm on the table, staring at me as I devoured the bread that our waitress placed in front of him. "Speak and you will be heard, pretty boy. It's rude to stare," I said, popping a piece of buttered bread into my mouth. "I'm sure Allyssa-san taught you that."

He gave me a small smirk but kept his head in his hand. "You know what ore-sama wants from this little outing."

I sighed. "Well, it's complicated," he raised an eyebrow and I smiled. "Okay, maybe it's not, I just really wanted to try and say that."

Atobe shook his blonde head at that but the smirk was still there. "Where do you plan on starting this not-so-complicated tale, arn?"

"The beginning, I suppose," I said lightly. "Although, I'm telling you now that there's nothing really quite critically significant about my story."

"Might as well get it over with, then."

"Yeah, might as well," I conceded. "Alright, then, you _are _aware I have siblings, right?" The lack of expression on his face told me that the answer to that was a no. "You have been made aware. I have two older sisters and a younger brother."

"And they couldn't put up with you so they moved out?" He drawled.

I rolled my eyes at him and snorted, forcing down a smile. "You wish," I stuck my tongue out at him. "This will be over much quicker if you don't talk. Ever." He was about to open his mouth mockingly when the food arrived and the waitress placed it in front of us. I grabbed my fork off the table and I brandished it in front of his face warningly once the waitress had turned around. "Well, my oldest sister, Kazue-nee studies over at Kyoto University. And then my second sister, Saki-nee, studies at Osaka University." Stopping to stuff some of my fettuccine into my mouth, I smiled fondly. "And I'm sure you know that Osaka and Kyoto aren't exactly places you can commute to daily."

Atobe raised an eyebrow but kept his mouth shut. Shocking.

The shock, however, was short-lived as he swallowed. "And your brother?"

I sighed. "I was getting there." I chewed on the end of my fork before smirking. "Ryoji, yeah, well, he left for England with my dad. Since he's the only guy and all, my dad decided to take him there."

"And why did your father decide to go?" He asked coolly. Did I really think that he was going to keep quiet?

"He needed to maintain permanent residence there. The company is London-based," I stated. "And the work was amassing and his relatives there were nagging. So, he went." He studied my smirk curiously.

"Why the smirk?" He drawled out slowly.

Shaking my head, I brought another forkful of pasta into my mouth and chewed carefully. "I'm just feeling nostalgic..." I said once I'd swallowed. "And savoring the fact that I live alone, perhaps."

He gave his own shake of the head but picked up the topic. "And your mother?"

"Well, my mother's family is from Hokkaido. Grandmother fell ill and since my mother was always the most efficient in handling the family business, my grandmother had her summoned over there. I was given the choice to go with my mother to Hokkaido or go with my dad to London."

"You obviously didn't choose either of those two."

"Good observation. Well, obviously, I didn't. I made myself a third option: stay in Tokyo. _That _was the one I chose. I love my grandma and all but she is the strictest grandmother," I breathed heavily, remembering all the torturous hours me and my sisters spent under her tutelage. It was something that the three of us chose to bury over time. "And London didn't feel like a good choice to me either."

He stared at me curiously at that and it dawned on me that he lived in London himself and was probably wondering why I didn't want to. "Pretty boy, I lived in London for a good five years. All my relatives there are _male_. I hope you get the picture." He nodded, his stare turning amused.

"When did this happen?" He asked sedately.

"Around the start of High School, if I remember correctly. Before that we lived right next to Yuushi. When they all dispersed, I moved in to where I live now. They send me an allowance every week."

"That's it."

"Yep, that's it. The story of my boring life." I grinned at him. "Did you think I was an orphan?"

He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged nonchalantly, looking to the side with a hint of a smirk.

"And pretty boy," I chimed. He turned to look at me from the corner of his eye. "I want seconds."

He faced me fully and glanced at my immaculately clean plate and chuckled before calling over a – decidedly way-too-eager – waitress.

* * *

He paid for the bill, of course – I would have stabbed him with one of the salad knives if he hadn't – after three entrees and two rounds of dessert on my part.

We were walking our lunch off afterwards – I turned down his offer to chauffeur me back home so I could walk home(despite the heat, I seriously wanted to walk some of what I ate off) – he made a joke about that, of course, exercising and all – when I remembered I had to buy stuff to put in my pantry so I wouldn't have to live off instant ramen anymore. He refused to leave me alone until I went home so, lo and behold, he was in the freaking grocery store with me.

Atobe Keigo. In the grocery store.

Was it snowing in hell?

I blazed through the aisles as fast as my legs would go and he simply followed coolly behind me. Attracting female attention with every turn I took. I tried not to look at him. A group of girls giggled. He smirked. I groaned inwardly.

"You do housework?" He asked as we were in line at the check-out counter.

Looking up at him, I ran a hand through my hair testily. "You know, we just had a rather long conversation about my living alone. Did you miss that?" I asked him with just _a bit _of sarcasm. He flicked a lock of his hair away from his face and the girl in the next line blushed. "I cook, I clean, the works," I explained as I slid the basket onto the counter. "Although, someone comes by once a week for a general cleaning of everything."

He carried the groceries for me despite my vehement pleading that he didn't. And he walked me home, too, despite my vehement pleading that he didn't. He even went up to my apartment with me.

Do I even need to say the he did so despite my vehement pleading that he didn't?

He kept on walking when we got inside while I stayed by the door to adjust the thermostat. Once he'd placed all the groceries on my kitchen counter, he made his way to my living room and stared around at my place. My flat was all glass, chrome and leather and at this time of day – which was around 4'o'clock – the light was shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows, reflecting off the polished surface of my grand piano. Yuushi actually helped pick out the place. He liked a bit of extravagance himself.

And well, my parents liked him.

Atobe carefully walked over the grand piano, which was situated right at the center of the alcove of windows, and ran his hand over the polished – I was meticulous about polishing – wood. "You play?"

"Not in my file?"

He looked at me acerbically before cracking a smirk and uncovering the keyboard. "Do you want to play?"

"Do I have to play?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps it was a little more than a _request._"

I sighed, walking over to the piano and sliding into the seat he was standing next to. "If I play, will you leave?"

"Sure."

"Any request?"

"Wagner."

I placed my fingers on the keyboard and was about to start when I remembered something. "Hey, Atobe," I said, looking up at him slightly. He was standing idly by my piano seat as he stared down at me with a raised eyebrow. "I took your advice." I smiled.

His eyebrow rose higher to inform me of his confusion.

"Well, I just thought Mukahi may really like his new tether."

His face broke out into a semblance of a grin and I just smiled wider.

Just like that, I played.

And just like he said, he left.

And I had a full stomach to remember him by.

That was a good way to remember someone by.

* * *

The next early(_very early)_ Monday morning was as normal as it could get. I woke up at a godforsaken hour and went jogging with Atobe. Normal. The one thing out of place in my normal early morning was Atobe waiting for me outside my building's entrance.

Yep. Totally normal.

* * *

**_I was supposed to have this up by last weekend but I was whisked away for an unplanned vacation. Anyway, some more developments and bonding between Atobe and Mai here. Can you seriously just imagine Atobe in the gym? -mini fangirl moment- And if you guys recall, it was really Atobe's suggestion to get the tether, a suggestion he made when they were in the car after his parents' party._**

**_Oh, and I'm open for suggestions for some mini bonding ideas for Mai and Atobe. I'm curious. :)  
_**

**_To all my lovely reviewers: Thank you ever so much for making my day! YOU GUYS ROCK!  
_**

**_Hope you enjoyed!_**

**_Tell me what you think!_**

**_READ and REVIEW, please!  
_**


	15. Favours and Flavours

**_Here's the next one! Hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

I tried not to think much of the change in my daily routine – that is, Atobe showing up at my doorstep in the wee hours of the morning – and it wasn't too hard to succeed. Him being weird and random didn't quite strike me as weird and random anymore, after all.

"When did you start playing the piano?" Okay, maybe I wasn't immune to all of his weirdness and randomness.

I was breathing heavy already when he asked the question so I offered him and exasperated glance before taking a deep breath to answer him. "Why?" I panted.

"Ore-sama is just trying to be friendly." He smirked, still breathing easy as we jogged our usual route. Damn athlete.

I glared at him. "Save your friendliness until we sit down or something."

Atobe simply shrugged and focused straight ahead while I struggled to get my legs to keep moving.

When we were done and sitting down with water in our hands as per usual, Atobe glanced at me from the corner of his eye and smirked over the water bottle. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Sakaki-sensei taught me how to play when I was four years old."

"Sakaki-sensei?"

"Shocking, isn't it?" I gave him a lopsided smile as I stood up, getting ready to go back home. Atobe followed suit and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder smoothly.

Atobe gave a curt chuckle as we started down the street. I was tempted to pause for a moment and ask him why he was walking this way but I decided not to react to it. Great, so he was walking me home, too. "It's hard to imagine Sakaki-kantoku teaching a little girl how to play the piano."

Wiping my face with the towel he gave me, – he gives me one every morning and I wonder if the Atobe household ever runs out of towels, though I seriously doubt that – and stuck my tongue out at him. "Well, keep imagining, he taught me for a good eleven years."

He raised an eyebrow at that, the smirk still tattooed on his face, "It's even harder to imagine that he put up with you for eleven years."

Using the towel in my hand, I brought my arm across so that the white, fluffy – and sweaty – piece of cloth hit him upside the head. He retaliated by placing his hand on his face like he did during tennis practice and, using his other hand, flicking me with two fingers at my temple. I glared at him hotly.

"Point made." He stated just as we reached the front of my building.

We both stood at the entrance for a few moments in silence, he stood smirking into space while I stood simmering into the pavement. After a second more, I smirked.

"Well, you know, Atobe," I started and he directed his smirking face towards me. "You have to put up with me, too." He raised his eyebrow at the smirk on my face before I brought the towel across his head much like I had done earlier, only this time, to the front of his face and dashed off to the elevator, card key in hand.

I laughed at his put off expression until the doors shut and blocked him from view.

_Take that, pretty boy._

* * *

"Hey," I was sitting at the usual bench when Shishido came up to me just as I put my last bit of bread in my mouth. Morning practice started today as Atobe had instructed and I arrived at the classroom earlier this morning to see Yuushi's, Taki's and a bunch of other tennis club members' things already at their desks. I went to practice in the music room before I bought some bread and brought it to the courts.

Once I arrived, I wouldn't have thought it was only a little past seven in the morning with the way they practiced. It was almost as if it were their usual afternoon practices minus the people crowding the place. I decided I liked the crowd – or lack thereof – better in the morning, not that I was anyone to judge.

"Hey," I replied as he groaned and dropped down next to me.

"Damn," he said. "I was going to ask if you still had more of that." He nodded to my empty bag of bread and I shrugged, dusting the crumbs off my skirt.

"Come earlier and you may just get some."

He sighed and reached underneath the bench to get his bag. He pulled out a pack of gum and popped a piece into his mouth. I could smell the mint. "I'll keep that in my mind." He smacked his gum once. "You eat a lot?"

"Considerably."

"So you mean yes?"

I pulled his head backwards using the bill of his baseball cap. "Shut up."

He was about to make a retort when Akutagawa Jirou ambled over and motioned over to Shishido that it was his turn. He adjusted his cap before standing and allowing Akutagawa to tumble into his previously occupied seat.

"I don't know what possessed Atobe to start morning practice so soon," Shishido muttered as he went on his way.

If one could shrink at will, I would have been but a mushroom cap already.

Yuushi made his way towards me a few minutes later with an abominably energetic Mukahi in tow and I scooted closer to the sleeping regular next to me so that he could sit, leaving the acrobat standing and glaring at me.

"Do you want me to offer you a seat, milady?" I asked him sardonically as he continued to glare. I could see Yuushi stifle a chuckle next to me. "Tell me, Mukahi," He looked at me warily. "Would you prefer a seat or a late birthday present?" He perked up significantly and started on this tirade about my not being able to resist his charms as I handed him his gift and he walked a little ways off the where that second-year Hiyoshi was standing. He grudgingly agreed as I told him not to open it until later.

Atobe left practice in Yuushi's hands a little earlier. I passed him in the hall as I was on my way to the courts and he told me he was taking care of some more paperwork in the Student Council Room. I actually wanted to watch practice so I didn't go to the Council Room for a second time in the same morning. I wouldn't admit that to him, though. That I wanted to watch practice, that is.

We had a short conversation in which he handed me an envelope out of his pants pocket before he left which I placed into my own skirt as I made my way to the tennis courts. I'd make time to check it later. He didn't look particularly eager that I open it immediately anyway.

"You told Atobe about your living situation?" He smiled in a way that would have made a fangirl die.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, he asked."

"_And _you played the piano?" He smirked slightly and I rolled my eyes at him.

"He asked that, too." I stated blandly. "He told you about it?"

"In not so many words."

"Which words, then?"

"He told me this morning that you 'knew how to play the piano.'"

"What did you say?"

"'Oh, she knows how to play the piano?'"

"You already knew that." I said, raising my eyebrow amusedly at Yuushi.

He shrugged. "He knew I knew that, too."

"You lost me." I squinted at him as I tried to grasp his meaning.

"He hardly ever says that, Mai-hime." He explained.

"I can imagine that he only says that about people who play the piano." I responded flatly.

"Yeah," he laughed. "But what I mean is, he hardly says that someone _knows_ how to play. It means he thinks you're good."

Blinking a few times, I sighed. "Well, at least, now I know he actually thinks I'm good at something."

"True."

I pulled at Yuushi's hair and he smirked. "That was not the answer I was waiting for."

A few meters away from us, Mukahi started making a fuss and I figured he'd already opened my present for him. From the corner of my eye, I could see that second-year awkwardly 'cough' into his hand. Yuushi turned to look at the commotion and Mukahi started stomping towards us. He looked at me in outrage before pointing at me, a piece of paper clutched in his hand. The tensai next to me plucked the paper from his best friend's accusing hand and the gift from underneath Mukahi's arm. He read the paper out loud, "_I hear you like bungee-jumping._"

Yuushi cleared his throat discreetly but I knew he was just trying to hide a laugh when he opened the box and looked inside. "Mai-hime," he chided laughingly in his sexy Kansai drawl.

"In my defense, it was Atobe's idea."

On my other side, Akutagawa stirred awake probably due to the hubbub Mukahi was making next to us as he complained about me to Yuushi. He sat up and leaned over me to take a look at the box in Yuushi's hand.

"Who has a dog?" He droned sleepily.

* * *

As it turns out, yes, the teachers are fully aware that Atobe Keigo is no longer an unattached man – well, they didn't know the whole story but they didn't know that – and they certainly knew who he was supposedly – and I stress that word – attached to. Namely, _me._

One of the things they were probably unaware of was my general dislike of being _supposedly _attached to him. And that, no, I was not alright with spending all specifically going out of my way to spend 'quality' time with him.

Their ignorance of this was proven when one teacher called me over to him just as the lunch bell rang. It was that bad, the _lunch _bell.

"Takashina-san," he said kindly as he rifled through a bunch of papers in his attaché case atop the teacher's desk.

"Hai, sensei," I responded cordially, my eyes narrowing infinitesimally as I wondered what I was standing in front of him for.

He finally looked up at me, handing me a folder with a thick stack of paper inside. I took it and fingered the edges absently, still at a loss when he finally decided to tell me what I was supposed to do. "I hope you're alright with taking this to Atobe-kun this lunch period. I have an important teacher's meeting and I won't be able to hand it to him myself."

_Yeah, well, I have an important meal to eat and I don't want to hand it to him myself, _I wanted to say but, realistically speaking, couldn't. Instead, I settled for a diplomatic smile and a polite bow. "Of course, sensei, I'll go look for him now."

"Thank you, it's a big help," He smiled at me before gathering his things and starting for the door. I simply bowed again and walked towards my friends to tell them I'd have to leave them for a bit and they should go ahead to the cafeteria without me.

They grinned and smirked and leered as I answered their inquiries of where I was going. That was their typical reaction to anything that involved Atobe – and now, Atobe with me. Oh, that and sighing, squealing and fainting. Which they were also doing their fair share of at the moment, except for the fainting. Thankfully.

The first place I went to was the Student Council Room because that was the only place I ever really saw him other than the tennis courts – I surveyed that area from the window behind his desk – and I didn't fine him at either location. It then struck me that the first place I should've looked was his classroom, not only because that was closer to where I started than the Student Council Room, because it was his classroom. And it just occurred to me that I haven't actually been there since all this business started.

I sighed and made my way towards the aforementioned place as fast as I could walk in hopes of getting this task done as quickly as possible so I could still actually use my lunch period for lunch.

"What are you doing here?" He _politely _asked me as I stood in front of his desk as he looked up from reading some Greek poetry book.

I rolled my eyes at him before dropping the folder on top of his desk with a light _thud. _"Miura-sensei asked me to give this to you."

Atobe closed his book and slid into his desk compartment before propping his elbow up on his desk and cradling his head in his open palm as he idly flipped through the contents of the folder. "Ahn, are you sure you're not just making excuses because you wanted to see ore-sama?" His infuriating blue eyes glanced up at me.

I snorted. "Please, Atobe, it's lunch." I stated matter-of-factly. "Do you really think I'd willingly trade food to see _you?"_

He smirked and shut the folder before sliding it into his book bag hanging off the hook on the side of his desk. "You make a good argument." His doing so made me notice something I previously wasn't paying attention to and I briefly pondered on how I didn't notice it earlier.

"Of course," I raised an eyebrow at him and then the tower next to his feet. "That aside, what's up with the o-bento tower you have going on here? And you tell _me _I eat a lot."

Atobe didn't even have to glance at it to know what I was talking about. He simply tilted his head up to look at me fully and show me his smirk more pronouncedly. "Simply because you do." I glared at him, leaning casually on the chair in front of his table. "Don't misunderstand, though, ore-sama's adoring fans routinely give me a number of those every lunch period."

Snorting again, I leaned over and picked one of them up by the handkerchief knot, inspecting it blithely. It was then I noticed, out of the corners of my eyes, that a good majority of the people in the class were staring at our interaction, shamelessly. I shrugged internally. That seemed to happen a lot recently. "Where does it all go?" I commented instead of paying attention to the hostility around me. "I hardly believe you'd even bother to try eating these."

He shrugs and I hate how I notice _how _he shrugs. In my head, I sigh. _Weakness. _"Kabaji comes around to pick them up some time before the bell rings. I'm also very liberal with giving it to whoever asks." He gives me a look that's meant to say, '_yes, ore-sama's just that generous' _and I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I set the bento in my hand on his desk. "You're free to take one if you'd like."

Cocking an eyebrow at him again, I held my hands out in refusal. "No, thanks. I'll pass on that offer." His change in expression seems to tell me '_it's food' _but I'm adamant in my refusal. "I fear I may be poisoned by their love. Especially since it's for _you_."

He tipped his head forward and chuckled curtly before facing me again. "Why don't you attempt to make me one?"

It didn't occur to me to be shocked by the request but my eyebrows shot up of their own accord as I stared at him. I said the first thing that came to mind. "Don't you fear you may be poisoned?" I told him with an incredulous look.

"By your love for me?"

I snorted _and _rolled my eyes at that. "By poison." Came my monotonous answer.

The smirk was even more pronounced, if that was even possible. "I'll take the risk."

My brows lowered and instead furrowed. "What makes you think I'm even capable of preparing an oh-so-elaborate bento for you?"

"You're living situation." He stated simply. And I warily came to terms with the fact that there was no chance that he wasn't going to bring that up.

"Heh," I breathed disinterestedly. "Is that it? Alright, then, I won't argue with you simply because it's rare that you actually think I'm capable of doing something well." I said, my voice dripping with something akin to sarcasm. I straightened and pulled at the hem of my skirt to flatten it. " Anyway, I better get some food for myself before the bell rings."

"Going already?" He said, deliberately patronizing.

"You don't like me when I'm hungry." I waved him off.

He closed his eyes coolly, head still resting on his palm. "Oh, I know."

I gave him a withering look which he couldn't really see.

Just as I turned around, I heard his thick drawl addressing me. "Such a flat out refusal."

Looking at him over my shoulder, – and still seeing the fangirls glaring intently at me – I clucked my tongue, "Perhaps if I feel like it, I'll make you a riceball."

He moved the fingers on the hand supporting his across his face, brushing away locks of hair that had fallen over his forehead and settling over half his face in a way I keep forgetting to ask Yuushi about. His eyes were still closed, the picture of bored confidence. "Why, thank you." He drawled. It was three words but I heard the annoying tone of voice he often used with me when I ate.

Scoffing, I resisted the urge to chuck something at him and kept walking. He wasn't worth missing lunch.

* * *

My friends were nowhere in sight when I arrived at the cafeteria to grab lunch so I simply bought myself a couple pieces of soba bread and ate them as I walked back to my classroom. I knew that wasn't strictly allowed but I wanted to finish the food before the bell actually rang.

I was on my last half of soba bread when I opened the door to my classroom and found my friends and a few other people gathered at one spot in the room. Specifically, my desk. Vaguely, I saw Yuushi at the center of the brood, obscured from my sight by the others. I gave the gathering a measuring stare before I finished my bread and strode towards them purposefully. They didn't seem to notice me until I tapped one of my friends on the shoulder and she turned back with an over-excited squeal. That couldn't mean well. That was when I nudged her aside and saw Yuushi lounging atop my desk with the envelope handed me earlier in the morning and the biggest grin/smirk on his face as he looked up at me. I wasn't exactly sure what was in there since I hadn't opened it since Atobe gave it to me but the expressions around me couldn't mean anything good either.

"Sorry, Mai-hime," he said as he handed me the envelope, not sounding even the smallest bit sorry as he did so. I stared at him suspiciously as I took the proffered item from him. "I bumped into your desk by accident and they fell out of your notebook. Evidently, the envelope wasn't sealed."

Hearing his explanation, I carefully slipped my fingers into the top of the envelope and felt a thick wad of something filmy. I drew it out and my eyes widened as I saw that they were a stack of photos. Photos that featured me and Atobe at his party the previous Friday night.

I glared at Yuushi and my friends and my classmates. The fangirls glared back but Yuushi stood from his perch on my desk and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as I looked back down at the pictures and went through them, ignoring the rambling going on around me.

Most, if not all, of them were taken when Atobe and I started dancing because, as I recall, that was when the professional photographer courtesy of Allyssa-san arrived. They weren't in chronological order, a detail that went with Yuushi's story of them spilling out from the envelope and I realized I wasn't particular pissed since this wasn't something to be particularly pissed about. After all, they were just a bunch of pictures. I found a few pictures of us sitting at the bar before he dragged me to dance. There was even a picture of when he offered. It looked so much more romantic if my thoughts during the actual event were taken out of the context.

Yuushi winked at me and then squeezed my shoulder. "Have I ever told you that you're my type?"

I scoffed at him as I nudged him in the gut with my elbow none-too-gently but with a smile. He had abs enough to cushion the blow anyway. "I believe you told me and my sisters that quite a bit over the years." He winked again at my response and I felt little, imaginary daggers stab me. I could only guess where – or from whom – they came from.

My friends where gushing about how I was so lucky to have been invited to a party held by the Atobes and that I should invite them next time and that they didn't care when or where it would be held as long as I remembered them, _my precious friends. _I stuck my tongue out at them and thrust the envelope of pictures into my desk compartment. They laughed and dispersed as, apparently, the bell had already rung. The crowd cleared from my desk except for one. I pursed my lips curiously at Yuush He still had his arm around me even when the rest of our classmates were filing into the classroom from God-knows-where.

Seeing that everyone was getting ready to settle in and not paying attention to us, – a rare occurrence – he released my shoulder and slipped his fingers into his blazers sleeve and, like a magician, pulled out another picture that, judging from the scene I was seeing, came from the set in the envelope. I was about to ask him what he was doing with it when he took my hand and placed it inside.

"Can I safely assume that this was an accident?" He said in a low, amused drawl and I glanced at the picture and resisted the urge to laugh. It was a picture of me dancing with Atobe, one of the many, but my boot wasn't exactly in a place where feet should normally be.

Huh. The photographer got a shot of me taking a shot at Atobe's leg.

I took my seat as the teacher walked into the classroom and Yuushi took his own at his desk next to mine. I didn't bother to hide the smirk on my face.

"Well, you can't _safely _assume otherwise." I said to him in a low tone only audible to us.

Yuushi gave a silent chuckle and I slid the picture in my hand into the envelope as well.

Later on in the class, Yuushi slid his notebook to the edge of his desk and I picked up his scrawl on the corner of the page.

_I wouldn't mind if you happened to have another copy of that photo._

* * *

**_Well, I hoped you liked it! In about 3 or 4 chapters, it'll get a little faster, skipping through the weeks more. This fic is supposed cover the Japanese school year starting from the second term in September until the end of the school year in April and then some. I really do wish you'd stick around to the very end because I have some scenes planned out that make me really excited. _**

**_Thanks to all the readers and reviewers, I couldn't even fathom getting 200 reviews in my whole life and I'm entirely and wholly thankful for all your support!  
_**

**_You are all amazing! And reviewing makes you even more amazing! So thanks..._**

**_Tell me what you think!  
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**_Read and Review!  
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	16. Born Today

**_Here it is! Hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

Atobe dropped me off at the gate where my friends were waiting, as per usual, and I noted that they were gigglier than usual. Which was strange, because they were already giggly on a normal basis. It occurred to me to wonder if my friends contributed to the bento tower I saw earlier.

My best female friend, Kanna, glomped me as we rounded a corner and proceeded to squeal into my ear. I winced. "You're squealier than usual, too." I said, patting her arm calmly.

"So, what are you getting him," she asked, ignoring my observation and releasing me, but still obviously giddy. Suddenly, all my friends' eyes were on me. I surveyed their curious looks before turning back to Kanna.

I shrugged. "Who's getting who what?"

She looked at me as if she didn't know what I was talking about. So, that made two of us. "It's only like one of the biggest events of the year. It's on Wednesday. You can't seriously have nothing for him. He's _your _boyfriend. The fanclub has been planning for this for months. It's the last one we can celebrate for him, after all, since graduation is coming up." There was a wistful edge to her statement – and I wondered if she was being deliberately vague – but it wasn't long until they went back to pestering me. The girls blinked wide eyes at me while mine narrowed into slits. Like all other times where our conversation took a turn for the Atobe, I learned how to dodge questions directed towards our relationship expertly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," my voice took on that candyfloss tone that one uses when they purposely want others to know that you don't mean what you're saying.

They alternately gaped and pouted at me. We'd stopped at the intersection where we usually part ways but my friends were not doing any parting as they decided to stay standing there and continue interrogating me. "You have something planned, don't you?" They pressed. "Just tell us, we promise not to spill."

I winked at them. "I know better than that, girls. You told me before that your fanclub has a transparency rule. Any and all information about one Atobe Keigo must be turned over. _Or prepare to face the consequences._" I breathed in the same way they had done when they told me a few years ago, when they had just joined their dream – more like nightmare – club.

Making a show of glancing at my watch, I sighed dramatically, ignoring their pleading expressions. "I'd love to continue this but if you don't leave now, you're going to miss your train." Eyes widening in realization, they took off down the street, the boys already way ahead while Sanna ran backwards, still facing me and shouting, "This isn't over, Mai!"

I figured as much. But I was hoping that by the time that we resumed conversation on the topic I'd have an idea as to what the topic was really about.

* * *

There was no way I was asking Atobe about something regarding him and his fanclub so we mostly stuck to our usual topics as we jogged the next morning. Our usual topics being argument and, lately, the backstory of our so-called relationship. Thus far, we'd gotten to "We actually like each and are happy we are dating." A statement that, when said, caused us both to cringe and sigh. After which, I resumed our argument regarding him deciding to jog on a Tuesday which I thought was off limits. He proceeded to tell me that, no, it wasn't. And that another morning jog wouldn't kill me while another day of eating probably would. I made a pass at his face and that damn mole. He dodged.

I think it's also worth mentioning that he once again showed up at my building's doorstep and left me at my building's doorstep before going on his own way home. Strange. But that was how it was with Atobe.

The time spent in the Student Council Room had been cut short with the resumption of morning practice so the two of us made our way to the tennis courts after a while.

The solution to my unanswered inquiry came once Atobe had deposited me onto my usual bench.

"Did you leave me some today?" Shishido asked, lowering his bag onto the bench and taking a seat next to it.

I smiled and raised a plastic bag for him to see. "One and only." He grinned and muttered a 'Thanks' before reaching out and making a grab for it. I pulled it away before he could touch it. He looked at me inquiringly.

"Before that, I have a question."

"Is this extortion?"

"No."

"Well, go ahead and ask." He said impatiently, eyeing the bread.

I waved it around in front of him for effect and he glared. "What's the occasion on Wednesday that involves Atobe, lots of planning and his fanclub? In retrospect, everything that involves Atobe involves his fanclub." I added as an afterthought.

Shishido gave me a disbelieving look. "It's Atobe's birthday, Takashina. How can you not know that? Are you really his girlfriend?" He stopped and laughed. "No, you're not."

He reached across and grabbed the bag from my hand and I glared at him pointedly. He shrugged and took a bite. I sighed.

"His birthday, huh?"

"Only the most celebrated birthday since Jesus." He offered.

I scoffed. "I've never celebrated Atobe Keigo's birthday."

"Obviously."

"Shut up." I slapped him hard on the back. He rolled his eyes. "I suppose I have to get him something, right?"

He was done with his bread and opened his bag to fish out his gum. "You're the fake girlfriend, not me."

I took the proffered stick and bit into its minty goodness before answered him. "Could have fooled me."

He retaliated by taking his sweaty cap off his head and cramming it on mine, pushing the bill over my eyes. I squeaked in distress and by the time I pulled it off, he was already walking away laughing. When I threw the cap at him and sailed over his head by a good foot, it only served to make him laugh harder. He picked it up, dusted it off and replaced it atop his head and then turned towards me with a haughty grin.

"You throw like a girl."

I crossed my arms and glared before my face eased into a candy smile. "At least I am one, what's your excuse?"

His outraged response was lost as Sakaki-sensei's booming voice called everyone to attention.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent redirecting my friends' attempts at wheedling information about Atobe's birthday gift – _now _I knew – out of me. I couldn't tell them that there was no information to give except for the fact that I didn't have one.

Fangirl hostility also increased as I noted that more of them were looking down their noses at me, probably telling themselves how they're gift for _Keigo-sama _was infinitely better than what I was giving him. I wanted to tell them that they were probably right and that they could give him all the gifts they could think off so that I wouldn't have to.

"What _are _you getting him?" Yuushi asked as we made our way towards the tennis courts after class.

I groaned. "Not you, too, Yuushi."

He adjusted his glasses. "I'm honestly rather curious."

"I'm sure you all are. So am I, really." I mumbled.

He threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "You don't have anything for him, do you?" He said, barely audible, but the amusement loud and clear.

I shook my head after a thorough face-palm.

"Didn't even know when the guy was born, did you?" He continued.

I shook my head a gift.

"If he didn't tell you about his birthday then he'll probably accept the fact that you didn't plan for it."

Yuushi matter-of-factly tone made me sigh. "Ah, but they won't be so accepting." He followed my gaze towards the crowd surrounding the courts.

Laughing in that melty way of his, he ruffled my hair before stuffing his hand into his pocket. "Point granted."

"Unfortunately."

Shishido was waiting for me by the edge of the crowd and scowled when he was us. "I wait for you and then I find out that I wasn't really needed." He nodded jerkily at Yuushi standing next to me. The drama queen has told me on more than one occasion how he absolutely abhorred wading through the crowds to escort me and how unfair it was that Atobe always made him do it.

I didn't want to tell him that Atobe told me that he made Shishido do it because it seemed like we were on the same wavelength. I gave him hell for implying I was a drama queen but I didn't want hell from the real one.

"Way to sound like a jealous boyfriend, Shishido." The tensai said, patting his teammate on the shoulder.

I stuck my tongue out at the scowling Shishido. "More like a jealous girlfriend."

Yuushi took one look at the two of us and said, "True."

Did I ever mention how much I love Yuushi?"

* * *

The perfect idea came to me during practice. It was an out-of-nowhere kind of realization and my sudden jerk of celebration woke Akutagawa who was sleeping on the ground next to me.

Before practice was over, I made my way to my friends over at the fences and told them they didn't need to wait for me afterwards. That was met by excitement and suspicion. They knew what I intended to do and put up a fight to get me to let them go with me but when I was adamant it was final.

When I sat back down, Yuushi immediately took the seat next to me and smiled. "Have you thought of anything to save your soul yet, Mai-hime?"

"Something like that." I smiled back. "There was also the option of selling my soul to the devil but then I realized I already had an ongoing agreement with him." I turned to stare at Atobe across the courts.

Yuushi chuckled. "Tell me about it."

"I was thinking that he'd love it if I served his head on a silver platter. The thing he loves the most appears to be himself, after all."

"You may just have the right idea there. Sign my name on the card, will you?"

"Will do, Yuushi."

The both of us lapsed into a comfortable silence as Yuushi busied himself with replacing his rackets inside his bag and I stared at the practice matches going on in front of us. A thought entered my mind as Sakaki-sensei paced directly in my line of vision a few metres away. I turned back to Yuushi.

"Yuu-chan," I chimed, catching his attention. Once he had zipped his bag up and faced me, I told him about the concours I would be participating in in less than a month's time and that I needed to make a list of everyone I was inviting before the end of the week. The rest of my friends were already on the list. He asked me when it was.

"The first weekend of November."

He suddenly gave me a weary gaze and I stared at him with comically wide eyes. "We have friendly matches scheduled on that day against Ginka." He sighed. I expected as much. Yuushi had a life, after all. It just really sucked that he wouldn't be around. He's been playing duets with me the very first day he found out I knew how to play an instrument.

I placed a hand to my heart dramatically. "The pangs of rejection. I now know how your –" I paused for a split second to find the right word for what I was going to say next. "Admirers feel when you step on their hearts after all they gave you was there overly-enthusiastic devotion."

The snicker that escaped us both made me feel better. He offered me a lopsided smile as he reached behind my head and tugged on a lock of hair. I glared at him playfully. "What time is it? I may be able to squeeze you in." He said and I scarcely allowed myself to childishly hope. "The tennis matches are in the –"

"Morning." We said simultaneously. There was a pause before we both exhaled heavily at the same time.

"Woe, rejection," I started intoning. "_Again._"

He offered me a lopsided smile that turned apologetic as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "Likewise. I'm really sorry I'll miss it, Mai-hime. Atobe will have my racquet if I even dare try to skip out on it. Tell me how it goes, though. Every detail of your performance. I'm sure you'll do great. And promise me that you'll invite me to the next round."

"Thanks. I will, promise. I'm sure you'll trample them, too." I grinned, elbowing him in the arm. "It's too bad, though. I was actually looking forward to seeing you guys in action."

"On another note, Mai-hime." He said, not looking in my direction and staring straight ahead of him towards Atobe. I had a bad feeling. "I'm rather curious as to how you're going to tell that guy that you won't be watching that weekend as his _girlfriend._"

He lingered on the words girlfriend because it was supposed to mean something. The first real match of the term and I wouldn't be around. I squeaked. "I forgot about him." I followed his gaze but allowed a quick sideways glance at the tensai next to me. I noticed the minute upward pull of his lips and huffed. "You had a feeling something like this would happen, didn't you?"

Yuushi had always been the type to want to observe reactions in people. He probably wanted something to happen between me and Atobe that would give him a satisfying show. And I knew that, with the way the both of us interacted, it was bound to happen sometime.

"It's my style to plan ahead and assess the situation." He offered. I knew he was giving me advice somehow. He had just tried for a rather diplomatic way of going about it.

I sighed and nodded, not looking at him. "Understood." I had three weeks or so to deal with that particular problem. But there was another problem that I had to solve before tomorrow and the cause of it was coming right at me.

My companion stood and brushed a hand over my shoulder in commiseration. "Good luck," he muttered quietly before taking his leave but not before giving me a parting wink unseen by his captain.

I grimaced internally and stood as Atobe neared me. "Let's make this quick, pretty boy. I'm pressed on time." I said, grabbing him by the sleeve of his tennis jacket and dragging him to the fence doors. He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly and secured his bag on his shoulder. If I was going to be able to get this ass a gift, I needed to hurry. The store I was going to closed at 7'o'clock and it was already a little past six.

"What's gotten into you?"

That made me stop and stare into space for a moment, pursing my lips in thought. "Life." I said with a shrug of my shoulders before I moved to start dragging him again. I didn't get far this time because he gave a curt chuckle before drawing his arm from by grasp and pulling open the door.

"What part of it, I wonder?" He said, stuffing one hand into his pocket while the other took its usual position at my waist.

"The part makes you wonder about it, I'm sure." I said slowly, sardonically.

He let out an amused grunt before loosening his grip at the gates of the school. I stepped away and looked around, seeing that my friends were – thankfully – not around. I'm glad they respected my privacy. Although, I'm pretty sure that in exchange for the 'privacy' now they were going to hound me even more tomorrow.

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I started down the street at a fast clip, waving absently towards Atobe as he stood by the gate.

"Your house is the other way." I heard him call after me coolly.

"I know." I called back, not turning towards him and instead offering him another backwards wave. I was going to get late.

His overtly-amused laugh barely registered in my brain as I determinedly made my way towards the train station. If I was going to do this stupid thing, I would do it right. Fangirls be damned.

* * *

The first thing I did the next morning was to wake up at a slightly more ungodly hour and pick up my cellphone on my bedside table. The next thing was to send Atobe a short text message that told him I wouldn't be joining him this morning.

The reply was instantaneous and very predictable. I figured he'd be up.

_Why?_

There was no blaming the guy since it would be a normal reaction. Especially since it was his birthday. But then, that was exactly why I had to excuse myself.

I really didn't want to tell him that that was the reason – there was no way I was giving him the satisfaction so early in the morning – so I told him something that would satisfy his need for a reason. I never had qualms about pulling the woman card. _Wink. Wink. Cackle._

_Fine._

And with that go signal, I dropped back onto my pillow and took a nice, recharging thirty minute nap. I tried not to purposely forget to set my alarm.

I recalled my trip to the specialty store the previous afternoon as I navigated through my empty flat in the near-dark. It was these times when I wondered why I agreed to keep such a big place. I hardly really had any use for five extra bedrooms. If it wasn't for the housekeeper that came by every week, I'd have gone crazy trying to keep the space in check.

But, alas, I was being distracted by my train of thought. I veered it towards my original purpose as I picked up the item I had bought yesterday. There was no threat of anyone seeing it so I deliberately left it out in the living room when I had gotten home. I smiled, seeing the thing. It was beautiful. As expected from the specialty store. The owners of said establishment were a family close to my maternal relatives and they never did disappoint when it came to their crafts.

Swiping my hand over the polished surfaced, I made my way to the kitchen with a purpose. What that purpose was could be lost to me for the time being.

* * *

Strangely enough, I was more tired finishing up Atobe's birthday present than when I get home after jogging with him. But since I didn't, go jogging with him, that is, I had a more pronounced inclination to sluggishly make my way to school at a later time than usual. Something I haven't done in a while so I decided to enjoy the walk.

By the time I arrived at school, my usual Student Council Room time was over and I still needed to practice my piece in the music room. Tennis practice had probably already started but I couldn't afford to miss out on practice.

I sighed to myself, climbing the stairs to the music room.

At least there was a suspense factor to his birthday where I was concerned.

Time passed quickly enough and I found myself rushing through the hallways as fast as I could without tripping to avoid getting late. I opened the door to the classroom to meet with an onslaught of glares.

I didn't have to think too hard to know why. The whole school probably knows that I didn't show up for practice on the day of my fake – but they didn't know that – boyfriend's birthday. The last birthday they would ever officially get to celebrate with him. Some of them were probably just glaring at me for show. They were probably quite happy inside that I didn't show. It meant that they had Atobe to themselves – and I meant that in plural, since they had to share him amongst the club members and all that.

Ignoring their glares wasn't so hard as I sauntered over to my seat coolly and realized that Yuushi was sitting in it. He stared up at me with a small smile and quick wink. "You weren't at practice."

"I was delayed." I perched myself at the corner of my desk as Yuushi was making no move to get up. My arms crossed over my chest. "Did anything happen?"

"To be honest, Mai-hime," he said, finally pushing himself out of my chair to be able to speak more softly. "I'm not sure whether or not he thinks you know. But," he stopped suddenly and looked to the bag hanging off the side of my desk and then up at me. "I think he'll be finding out soon enough."

I responded with a crooked smile. "He'll find out." I repeated as quietly as he had spoken.

He moved away, the bell ringing in the background. "Take pictures if you can, Mai-hime."

"I'll try, Yuushi." When he reached his desk, it was as if the whole class was waiting with bated breath to see if they could catch a wisp of our conversation but to no avail. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at them.

I was right about my friends hounding me. The entire morning was spent receiving blows to the back of my head from balls of paper containing interrogations. Some balls of paper also contained some very unpleasant things from people I didn't care much for which were easily brushed aside. I could try throwing paper at them, too, but I wasn't confident enough in my aim to entertain that option.

By the time the lunch bell rang, I had whisked my cell out of my bag and sent Atobe a message. I didn't want to have to exert any wasted effort to try and find him like what happened before. I was pleased to note that he was in the Student Council Room instead of the classroom. Less spectators, hopefully.

The bag that held his gift was already clutched to my side when I stepped out of the classroom under the watchful eyes of the school populace. None of them really tried to follow me but it was obvious from the expressions on their faces that they wished they had x-ray vision or something like that.

I waltzed into the Student Council Room without so much as a knock – because, really, when did I ever do that – and lowered the bag onto the desk he was sitting behind. He looked up at me with an inquisitive eyebrow. "Maybe more than just a riceball." I told him with a quirk to my own lips.

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he looked towards the object I had placed on his desk. He seemed to have an internal debate before lowering his pen and brushing aside the paperwork he was working on. "Why the change of heart?" He said with an unreadable expression. Lowering his chin onto his interlaced fingers.

"I was possessed." I responded acerbically, taking a seat on the chair opposite him and unloading the bag. He smiled and snickered quietly.

Atobe stared as I placed a traditional bento before him. The lacquered surface glinted in the fluorescent lights. The three-tiered bento measured about ten inches diagonally and its black base was decorated by the image of a gold dragon, its body creating looping patterns all around. I could see that even Atobe knew its value – being the way he was, he probably had an eye for those kinds of things. That was real gold inlay in that dragon

He reached to take the cover off the top level and place it on the table. He smiled as he saw the different types of sushi crammed into it restaurant style. The trouble I went through to get it looking like that. At least he had the decency to look impressed. It probably all clicked into place in his head why I bailed on him. Atobe was about to take one when I stuck my arm out and stopped him.

I answered his silent question by pointing down at the set of sushi in the very center. "Start with this." Atobe measured my expression before shrugging and taking one. As he popped it into his mouth, I bent my head to hide my leer. When I heard the muffled choking sound, I burst out laughing and handed him a bottle of tea that I took from the bag. He grabbed it brusquely and downed half of it in one go while I continued on laughing. It reminded me vaguely of one of the stories Momoshiro and Echizen told me.

Reaching over, I took one of the same rolls and put into my mouth. _Mmmmmm. "Wasabi roll."_

He glared at me over the top of the bottle after he had recovered and proceeded to prop his elbow up on and leaning his check on the back of his hand, the tea dangling from his fingers. "Is the birthday present food poisoning?" He drawled in a tone of forced disinterest before suddenly stiffening.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Of course not," I chimed. "It's revenge." Tittering, I leaned over and mirrored his position. "And who said this was your birthday gift, Keigo-sama?" I resisted the sudden urge to wink when I realized that, no, this was not Yuushi I was torturing.

He seemed to relax at my tone as he scanned the bento for another thing to eat. His eyes locked onto a regular-looking roll and he perused it for a moment before making to eat it. There was no adverse reaction to this one as far as I could tell. "So, this just happens to be something you made on the day that I was born?" He said in a sarcastic tone, taking another piece into his mouth.

"Yeah, that's exactly it." I plucked one out of the box for myself. There was no reason for me to starve.

"So, you aren't trying to kill me this time?"

"If you aren't dead yet, probably not."

Atobe didn't really say anything about the food as he went through the top layer and I didn't really bother to ask. He wasn't complaining and that was good enough for me. We chatted over mundane things and various other chit-chats, quite a bit of the conversation veering towards Mukahi and his nonexistent dog. I handed him a pair of chopsticks as he removed the first tier to reveal the four kinds of soba in the next level.

"Do you have any plans of eating me?" He said, nonchalantly digging his chopsticks into the clump of soba next to the one I was getting from.

I scoffed. "You taste way too much of ego. I'd prefer to eat myself, really, if that was physically and ethically possible, that is."

"Ore-sama doesn't doubt that you would."

By the time we'd reached the last level, Atobe'd gotten to relaying to me the essence of what his birthday meant to the fanclub. It still made no sense to me why they would be so enthusiastic about celebrating the day _Atobe _was born but that was probably just it, nonsensical. Our discussion abruptly stopped when he got a look at the last tier which was an assortment of _yakiniku_ with various sauces poured into the designated squares.

He bit into one and then looked at me haughtily. I raised both my eyebrows at him in question. "Who told you?"

I vaguely had an idea what he was talking about but it was fun beating around the bush with this guy. "About the yakiniku, I believe that was all you, Your Highness."

He scoffed but took another bite anyway. "Didn't think that you were such fan, Mai. You've been playing hard-to-get this whole time?" He gave me a purely _Atobe _look that he had probably worked to perfect these past 18 – by now – years.

"I had no idea what my friends were talking about, you know," I laughed and he raised an eyebrow with a quirk of his mouth. "So I asked Shishido."

"So, you knew?"

"I can see you didn't."

"Something like that." He shrugged with a small smile.

I happened to glance at the clock behind his head and saw that lunch break was almost over. Stretching my arms over my head, I rose from my seat and placed the cloth bag that the bento came in on Atobe's desk. He was just about done with the last level so I decided that it was alright if I took my leave.

"I'm going to go before I get late," I told him, turning towards the door. If I get lucky, my friends might just have some food left for me to scavenge from.

"Mai," he called and I turned to see him tapping his chopsticks on the bento before him with a raised eyebrow.

Pulling my lips into a complacent smile, I turned back and gave him a backwards wave. "Happy Birthday, Atobe."

The door was halfway closed when I heard him call out an arrogant word of gratitude. "It was better than I expected from you."

Shaking my head, I meandered down the hallway with a hardly audible, "Your welcome, pretty boy."

In the classroom, I sat next to my friends and started plucking things from their bentos wordlessly before the bell rang. They stared at me in question. They had seen me walk out with a bento and walk back in without one. They had finally pieced two and two together to get four when Kanna's mouth fell open.

"_You gave him a __**bento**__?" _She asked in disbelief, probably wondering why I would give such a _majestic _human being like Atobe such a mundane token of affection on his birthday.

Mental I snorted but outwardly, I shrugged. "That's what he asked for."

The following weeks saw Atobe repeatedly asking why the amount of _bento _he got tripled.

* * *

"It's your birthday," I said in response to his query. Atobe had come up to me inside my classroom after the last bell had rung for the day and asked me to go to dinner with him. In front of the whole class.

He stepped closer and looked at me with a impish glint in his eye. I resisted the urge to scowl. "And ore-sama is spending it with you."

I knew where the conversation was going so I grabbed the end of his sleeve and started walking out of the classroom. When we were out of earshot, I spoke again. "Why?"

He motioned back to the classroom filled with people and I caught his drift. "Because you're supposed to be the _girlfriend._"

I sighed. "Atobe you know I can't go out tonight. It's Wednesday. I have plans."

The sides of his mouth pulled up in an almost feral expression and I knew that deep inside he was making fun of me. I punched lightly in his stomach. Damn those abs, every time.

"It doesn't have to be tonight. You just have to agree."

"Why should I even do that?"

He raised his eyebrow cockily. "It's ore-sama's birthday."

Clucking my tongue, I checked my watch, making sure I wouldn't be late and then berating myself for agreeing because it was his birthday. I felt obliged to be nice to him. "When?"

"Next Sunday."

I gave into the urge and scowled outright as I began walking down the hall. Atobe chuckled. "Don't you have friends or something?"

Yuushi told me later on that Atobe had taken the regulars to Ginza to celebrate the day he was born.

Nonsensical.

But I had to hand it to him. He really knew how to spoil the tennis club. At least he fed them without comment.

I had no such luck.

* * *

Saturday came and I left my flat a tad bit earlier than usual to make a stop at the usual cafe near my building – the same one Atobe took me to a few weeks ago – to pick up a cake I had ordered before going straight to Seigaku. A little birdie – whose name happened to be Fuji – told about another birthday to be celebrated. This month was just full of them. Yuushi's was coming up as well.

"You brought cake!" Eiji exclaimed before I could even say a word as I stepped foot onto the Seigaku tennis courts. He charged towards me and took it out of my hand with a comical bow before he whisked it away to show Momo and Echizen. Fuji and Tezuka walked towards me while I Oishi stared at his red-headed friend in exasperation, preparing to scold them.

"Happy Birthday, Tezuka-san," I greeted him cheerily as they neared. "Yo, Syuu-kun."

"Thank you, Takashina-san," He said cordially with a nod also shooting a scolding glance at his members.

Fuji – or Syuu-kun as I'd taken to calling him – smiled, as always. Because of his propensity to smile, the only way I could really distinguish his emotions was identifying how wide his smile was and the off chance that he would open his eyes. But I liked him, nonetheless.

I actually found it rather amusing that Atobe's and Tezuka's birthday were within three days of each other. It was a rather petty thing but still a fun fact. They were practically born to be each others' rivals.

There was some chatting done – well, as much chatting as can be done with Tezuka – until I saw my watch and realized I had to get going.

When I returned from practice with sensei, I found the Seigaku regulars in their street clothes and just throwing tennis balls around by the courts. The freshmen were hovering around as well. Eiji once again mauled me when I came. "Mai-chin! You're here! The cake was delicious!"

He dragged me, still in his clutches, towards the rest of the group. I offered them a lopsided smile. "Glad you liked it."

Momo scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "It really did taste great, Takashina-san."

It was then that Syuu-kun came in with a shiver-inducing smile. "It, apparently, tasted so good that they finished it all by themselves." At his statement, Momo, Echizen and even Kaidoh seemed to deflate, finding other places to look innocently at. Eiji moved behind me. I chuckled.

"Are you guys heading out?"

Taka-san was the one who answered. "We're going to my family's sushi restaurant, actually. To celebrate." He said meekly.

Oishi continued. "We were actually intending to invite you, Takashina-san."

My eyes widened slightly and Eiji grinned wider behind me. "So, what do you think, Mai?" Syuu-kun asked with a big smile.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure? I'd hate to be intruding."

He simply chuckled and waved my anxiety away. "It's fine. The more the merrier. Right, Tezuka?"

"Ah," The statue managed an inviting nod.

There was a split-second where I had an internal debate of the pros and cons of going which ended with a lot of pros and barely any cons so there were no personal qualms about my decision. "I don't see a reason to say no, then."

"Wahoo!" The redhead cheered and finally unhanded me so we could start walking towards the designated restaurant.

Most of the walk was spent talking with Syuu-kun but I spent some time with the Freshmen in the back, too. Things were the same at the restaurant as well.

I was with Syuu-kun when Kawamura-san placed a batch of sushi in front of us that made everyone suddenly back off quite a distance. Kawamura-san laughed before going back behind the counter. I gave a start when Syuu-kun suddenly placed a piece on my plate. "Try one?"

Shrugging, I glanced at everyone's expressions and shaking heads. _Interesting. I doubt this will kill me so might as well give it a shot. _With that thought in mind, I dropped it into my mouth and there was a collective gasp. There was a pause before I reacted.

"Oh, no," Eiji wailed. "She's choking!"

There was a frenzy as they seriously thought I was choking and Oishi was chiding the tensai beside me on what he did while I tried – with my mouth full – to assure them I wasn't. They got the right idea when I finally swallowed and laughed openly. They stared as if I had just lost my mind. Syuu-kun on the other hand, chuckled interestedly.

"That was a good wasabi roll, Syuu-kun."

The Seigaku guys' gaping faces were almost as hilarious as Atobe choking.

* * *

**_It was a bit longer than usual because I wanted to stick in Tezuka's birthday in there as well. I hope you liked it!  
_**

**_Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate every single one of them!  
_**

_**Tell me what you think! **_

_**READ and REVIEW, please!**_


	17. Tell Me About It

_**I'm terribly sorry that it's so late! Things have been deathly hectic nowadays and I was only able to catch this break because I got chicken pox.**_

__**_Anyway~ there's a portion here heavily based off of Prince of Tennis OVA Another Story Episode 2: Turbulence, The Young Atobe It's an episode about the Hyotei regulars when they first entered Middle School. They are all incredibly adorable and hilarious. And it sheds a lot of light on Atobe's character. Do watch it when you have the time! _**

****_**Without further ado...**_

___**Hope you enjoy! READ and REVIEW!**_

* * *

There was something – or rather some things – that I still found myself wondering about Atobe since our deal around a month ago. Truthfully, I'd never thought that the last leg of my High School life would be so eventful. Or annoying. _Irritatingly annoying._

During the past month, he'd been a lot of things at the same time. At first, I wanted punch his lights out. Or bookbag him to death or something. After that, he was a little more multi-dimensional. That is, I started considering more manners of physical abuse but that's slightly beside the point. But even after I'd seen him in action, I still do not know why the entirety of the school was so in love with him. The way the regulars acted around him comforted me. _They _don't worship the ground he treads on, (which almost everyone did. For Kami's sake, I think _Atobe _worships the ground he walks on.) at least.

Sure, the guy was...acceptable. He had...admirable qualities.

I'd told him before that I didn't exactly _hate _him.

He just annoyed me.

His hair flips, especially. Come on, who wouldn't be annoyed at a guy who flipped his hair constantly?

But then he was just that kind of guy that didn't like being idle. Atobe had to be doing something productive with every millisecond of his time.

You can't hate someone like that, really.

But I'm back to asking myself why people would bother fawning over him.

That's why I'd found myself...errr...discreetly leaning on the doorframe of Atobe's classroom at lunchtime, a piece of curry bread dangling from my mouth as I watched the fangirls make a line in front of his desk and offer him bentos coupled with murmurs of adoration. Their eyes twinkled as they handed the elaborately packaged boxes to the apparent god who simply sat at his desk nodding, smiling(smirking), and flipping his hair.

_Damn hair flip. _

This is why his appeal doesn't quite appeal. It's overstated.

I closed my eyes, still chewing. His pros and cons were weighing themselves on my mental scale and so far we're keeping a staggering balance. Maybe it was time to get a second opinion to tip the scales. It might be better for both me and the deal if the scale was tipping a little more in his favour. Or maybe better for his shins.

Pushing myself off the doorframe, I scanned the classroom absently, noting that the line was nowhere near the end and Atobe appeared to not have noticed me standing here for the past 10 minutes. I couldn't say the same about the fangirls, though. Some of the people in line and others who were just loitering around the classroom were glaring daggers at me. In their minds, I was probably tied to a pole and rotating above an open fire with an apple in my mouth. Was it weird that that thought just made me crave for roasted pork?

Weighing my options for where I was about to go, I picked the obvious answer and ignored them as I shrugged before making my way to the school's salon.

There's a glasses-wearing tensai that better be prepared to answer my question.

I snickered to myself. How would he answer this one?

* * *

The salon was otherwise empty except for Yuushi sitting at the corner of one of the overstuffed couches with a book in hand. His back was to me while I stood by the hall that led into the room and I stared at the back of his head for a minute or so, debating whether and what I should ask, when he suddenly called my name. He was one person that couldn't be snuck up on but I'd known that he was aware of my presence from the get-go.

I walked up to the back of the couch and leaned over it slightly, pulling at the ends of Yuushi's hair. He hadn't turned around when he'd called out my name but now he snapped his book shut and tilted his head back, smiling lazily up at me. "Hey."

I grinned back. "Hey."

He set his book on the table next to him and placed his other hand on the vacant part of the couch on his other side. I took the invitation and dropped into the seat next to him, his arm coming around my shoulders. "Tired of your boyfriend already?"

"When am I never?" I released an exaggerated sigh that made Yuushi chuckle.

"So, have you come here to participate in a sultry affair with yours truly?"

I gave him a mockingly coy smile. "Of course, why else would I be here?" We shared a good laugh at that. "But before that, I have a question for you."

"Anything for you, Mai-hime." He winked down at me.

"Why would anyone want to worship the ground that Atobe Keigo walks on?" I pursed my lips as his eyebrow rose to his hairline before offering a confused smile.

He blinked. "Is this about that old dream of yours?"

I pretended to think about it for a moment and Yuushi responded with an amused drawl of, "Mai-hime, I'm offended that you think so lowly of me."

I shook my head, laughing. "It's not, it's not. My own selfish curiosity demands to be sated and you seem to be the one best suited to achieving such a feat."

The corner of his mouth pulled up in a half-smile, his glasses glinting. "I believe it's in my place to be flattered, then."

"It also occurred to me that Kabaji was an option considering their relationship and all but it didn't dawn on me to really consider him as an _option. _I thought that it would be an awkward conversation. So, here I am asking you."

He exhaled heavily and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose in a practiced motion. I continued smiling from beside him. "How do you actually want me to answer that?"

Shrugging, my finger tapped a rhythm where my hand rested on his leg. "Straight to the point, I suppose."

"Atobe's a pompous ass." Yuushi said as bluntly as the end of a battering ram.

He said with such a straight face that I couldn't help but outright laugh. "I'm pretty sure I've told him that a couple of times before." I wiped away a wayward tear. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"I don't doubt that you have." He allowed a smile and wink. "But he's not one without reason."

"Tell me about it." I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

Yuushi continued. "Atobe is one of those people _above _those kinds of people who have more money than they can spend in several lifetimes. In his case, he sees it fit to spend it on us."

I gasped theatrically, bringing a hand to my mouth. "Are you saying that you've been bought, Yuushi?"

"It seemed that he was trying to do that at first, actually." He seemed to start reminiscing. I vaguely remembered Atobe in our middle school days. He was the first year representative, if I remember correctly, and I'd heard he made quite a fuss on the first day but I hadn't been around then. I had yet to return from Hokkaido. "But the thing with Atobe is that he thinks he's above everyone else, that he's king."

"Don't we all know it." I couldn't help but interject with a snort. "But, please, continue, I feel we're getting somewhere important."

"It's below him to bother buying friends." Yuushi finished the thought and I nodded in agreement. A guy like Atobe wouldn't care for those kinds of things. He didn't need people like that. If they could be bought, they weren't worth being sought out. I was in full agreement regarding that sentiment. "Instead, he spent all that money on a whim, really. Always up for a challenge, he brought in all that equipment, renovated the school, and all that to make sure that everyone's got a fair chance at 'unseating' him from his throne."

"I'm listening. Though, the gist of this is..."

"Atobe's the kind of guy that can walk the talk. I'm sure you accept that much, Mai-hime." He pulled me closer into his chest.

I sighed resignedly. "I do. What these past few weeks have shown me is that when he says he can do better than you, the reason would be – more often than not – because he can. It's a frustrating fact but I have to hand it to him."

He nodded, looking up for a bit to think. "Since we've established that..." He hummed curtly. "He thinks that, since he's able to, he should give everyone a fair chance at trying to be as good as him, perhaps better." He leaned closer to me in a conspiratorial fashion, humour seeping into his voice. "Though, he probably thinks that that's essentially impossible.

He strongly believes – as Atobe always does, he never 'weakly' believes in anything – that your worth is decided purely by virtue of what you have done for yourself, your skill and your capabilities. He won't give you something that he thinks you don't deserve. That's why he spends his money like that. To make sure you have no excuse to not excel." He leaned back into the seat more, taking me with him. "And people respect all of that. Some more than others, probably because it doesn't hurt that he's good-looking as well but you didn't hear any of what just transpired from me."

It was then that he winked at me in true Yuushi fashion and I snickered. "I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight."

Yuushi shook his head. "I have a feeling that I know, too."

"But I have one more question for you, Yuushi."

"Will this be one that will question and/or compromise my sexuality?" He asked with an inquiring look.

"No..." I pouted. "I don't think so."

He responded with a grin and took the arm on my shoulder off to ruffle my hair. "Then I don't want to hear it."

"Don't feel too bad." I told him chidingly. "That kind of question is unnecessary at this point. You've compromised yourself enough on your own."

The tensai nodded sagely. "Carry on, then." He replaced his arm on my shoulder.

"_What could I have possibly done to deserve this?_" I wailed in exasperation, throwing my arms up into the air.

The bell rang at that point and Yuushi laughed.

"I told you, Mai-hime," he said, nonchalantly picking up his forgotten book and herding me out of the salon. "He never gives someone anything that he doesn't think they deserve."

* * *

"Have you earned any such respect for him after that?" Yuushi had asked me quietly before he deposited me into my seat.

"Serious consideration, Yuushi." I clucked at him, sticking my tongue out a bit just as sensei came in. The boy in question smiled smoothly and settled into his seat with no comment.

So, I sat in class pondering on Yuushi's question. When I said serious consideration, I meant serious consideration.

Spinning my pencil around on my thumb idly, I stared out the window in a daze.

Most of the time I wanted to bust his face in. The rest of the time, I want to glare at him. But never could I fathom hating him for his quintessence. Or weirdo-ness. It seemed so petty and the last thing I'd want to be around that kind of guy is petty. It's demeaning as a human being.

I huffed to myself and then sighed.

Nah.

I wouldn't fool myself into thinking that Atobe was a horrible human.

But then again, in two days I'd have to spend another day with him.

And I didn't have to fool myself to know that I'd have to suffer through his being insufferable again, as well.

Well, apparently, I deserve this.

'This' being him and his damn hairflipping.

* * *

Atobe had texted about an hour ago that he'd be picking me in two hours. That is, at 11'o'clock. I found myself scurrying about my flat with my shoes in hand, trying to find my cellphone. It wasn't helping that the silver of my phone was blending in with chrome and glass design of my place. As if on cue, I tripped over the edge of my carpet and landed on my phone which happened to be on my couch cushion, thankfully.

As such, I'd abruptly greeted Yuushi a happy birthday and told him of my plans. He'd laughed, informed me that he knew and wished me good luck. There was continuous laughter on his end throughout the whole conversation. Before he put the phone down, he promised that he would make it up to the both of us. For now, though, it would be alright since he intended on spending the day celebrating with his older sister who had just come back from her work abroad.

I stared at my cell after we'd both hung up and sighed. The numbers on it told me that I had half an hour to get ready for my appointment. I tossed it onto the glass top of the coffee table and hobbled over to kitchen counter and sat on a bar stool as I strapped my shoes on. Also, it wouldn't hurt to grab a bite.

After feeding myself a hearty breakfast, I made my way downstairs to the lobby. At exactly 11'o'clock, Atobe's imported Mercedes pulled up in front. I sighed and went to stand next to the door.

When the door opened, I came face to face with Atobe's smug face staring up at me.

"You do know that you are incredibly inconveniencing, right?" I said to him in greeting, both my eyebrows raised.

Atobe jerked the corner of his mouth up at me as I slid into the back of the car. "I know I'm incredibly persuasive despite your opinion of me."

"Says your opinion." I snorted. There was a shrug and his cool smile widened as he relaxed against the well-appointed cushions and laced his fingers on top of his crossed legs. "It's Yuushi's birthday today, I'm sure you know." That came out as a sigh as I reclined into the seat. "Aren't you supposed to go celebrate or something?"

"Not today." Another shrug. "Are you still trying to get yourself out of this?" His eyes narrowed in amusement.

Pouting disdainfully, I crossed my arms over my chest. "I've come to terms with my being your pastime for the day. That's what I am at the moment, right?" I smiled slightly.

"Something like that."

"Glad to know," I said sardonically. "So, where are we going, pretty boy?" He seemed a tad bit pissed at the nickname but otherwise, he looked resigned. The expression made me snicker internally.

"Do you have any place in mind?" He offered civilly. The put-off expression eased from his face.

It was my turn to shrug as I crossed my legs, letting one of my slightly heeled feet dangle slightly. "Any place with good air conditioning." The past few days were entirely too warm for October.

He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head amusedly before leaning calling an address out to his chauffer. I recognized the address of a pricey restaurant and sighed to myself.

"Good air-conditioning?" I asked casually, staring him in the eye as he sensed in that creepy way of his that I was going to try and persuade him to not pay for me. It was a weird thing to persuade someone _out _of but this was bothering me immensely. We weren't even really dating, after all.

He laughed before breaking eye contact and staring out the window in a show of 'Happy trying, Mai.' "Highly satisfactory, I'm sure."

"Any chance that you'll let me pay for the surely highly-priced food?" I crooned straightforwardly.

"As much chance there is that you'll beat me at tennis, Mai." He stared at me with derisive amusement out of the corner of his eye.

I snorted. "Ouch, pretty boy. What a gentleman you are."

"Ore-sama tries." The corner of his mouth pulled up slightly, I noted.

"Do you, now?" He didn't reply but simply flicked a hand through his hair again, the quirk in his mouth more pronounced. "You're in a good mood today, aren't you?"

"Something like that."

* * *

_Bvlgari, Il Ristorante _was an Italian restaurant in the main shopping district of Tokyo, found on the highest floor of the Bvlgari building. And like their jewelry, their food was crazy expensive.

For some similarly crazy reason, Atobe managed to shoot me down every time I offered to pay for even a miniscule portion of the bill. He had told me that since this was a pseudo-birthday outing, it functioned as if it was still his birthday and he got anything he wanted. I scoffed inwardly at that when he said it. He thought he could get anything he wanted, birthday or not. I suppose he was conceding that I didn't think so.

How sweet.

What he did accede to me, though, was where we would sit after he had caught me staring out the windows and not paying attention to anything he said after he had refused my offer again. The maître d' was rather amused – and thankfully not murderous, I liked her already – when I walked along the side of the restaurant with its huge windows to find the table with the best view(and air conditioning).

I picked out the table and took a seat, beating Atobe's attempt at trying to pull the chair out for me. I stuck my tongue out at him behind the maître d's back. He rolled his eyes exasperatedly and took his own seat.

When Saki, as her nametag implied, turned back to me with a request to take my order, I grinned and she smiled back. It was good that not all women fell for his 'charms' and turned hostile on me. It probably helped that this lady was well into her forties.

"I've come to realize that the amount of food that goes into your mouth is in direct proportion to the amount of words that come out," he elaborated as I placed a spoonful of risotto into my mouth.

I glared pointedly at him while I chewed. "Well, excuse me, Mr. Tall, dark and pretty," I drawled and he narrowed his gaze on me when he caught the last word.

"What?"

"Tall, dark, and _handsome," _I repeated in a patronizing tone. His stare relaxed into a self-importantly amused way. "_Pretty handsome." _I added with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

He scoffed. "If that's the case," I continued. "Then your money is paying for the words that are coming out of my mouth this very moment." He looked taken aback – albeit in a pleased way, he _was _in a good mood – but he quickly recovered and flicked a hand through his hair.

"Excellent point," He agreed, unable to smother his smile.

"Isn't it?" I cajoled. "Do you want to reconsider who's paying, now?"

He took a sip of his drink and swirled its contents smoothly. "Not for even a second, Mai, but I commend the effort."

I sighed. "Of course you do."

Oddly enough, we got to talking about my playing the piano. I cleanly avoided everything regarding my concours as we focused on how I started and then what instruments he could play. Apparently, he could play a number of them(not surprising) but since he had a number of different lessons as a child – including languages, other sports, and etiquette(little good_ that _did him, or me) – he didn't quite stayed with an instrument long enough to be good enough at one to bother to compete. He said these in a much haughtier way but after a while, I'd begun to learn how to strip his words down in my head so that they sounded less annoying.

"A real Renaissance man, aren't you?" I told him, swishing my tea around in its cup. The dishes had been cleared and we were both idly drinking tea while I enjoyed the cool air around me.

He cocked an eyebrow in my direction as he lowered his cup onto the table. "I think that was an actual compliment," he gloated. Leaning across the table slightly in a manner I suppose he presumed as 'sexy'.

"And this," I motioned to him blandly with the hand not holding by cup, "is why Renaissance cannot be spelled without _ass._"

Laughing outright, he settled back into his seat and a hand ran through his hair again before settling over his face in the usual fashion, regarding me with a clearly amused smile. "Well, isn't that an interesting fact? Anything else?" He said, his eyes saying that he was having fun.

Honestly, I was, too. The things Yuushi had told me were still in the 'serious consideration' stage but it eased me along. I never really hated him, after all, and having someone as close to me as Yuushi say those things didn't make me dislike him more.

It was my turn to lean over the table this time with a clearly amused smile. "Yes, actually," I held a finger up to his face. "Renaissance isn't spelled with a 'u'." That said, I placed my finger at the corner of his mouth and pulled the upturned side down as I nodded with a satisfied lift of my brow.

When I returned to my seat, I looked back up at Atobe who still had the same expression I forced onto his face as he raised his hand to call for a waitress – who, by the way, arrived with scary promptness – and order something I couldn't hear.

Two minutes later, a delicious looking chocolate cake was placed in front of him and I stared at the delectable pastry as he expertly shooed away the amorous waitress.

I was still looking at it when she left. After a second, I was looking at it as he pushed it across the table so that it sat in front of me. I then raised my eyes to look at him as the expression wavered. "Touché."

Not one to refuse sweets, I picked the plate up and laid it across my palm, dessert fork in hand. "Thanks, you weirdo pretty boy."

* * *

The day was nowhere near over when, after he had paid for lunch, we pulled up in front of my building. I gave him a questioning glance when he opened my car door.

He had told me that he would be requiring the whole day prior to this and, while I wasn't exactly disappointed to be home already, I was rather confused.

He answered my confusion with two words, "Get dressed."

I narrowed my eyes at him warily. "I wasn't aware that I wasn't."

His hand was poised to take mine as he leaned into the car. "You are," he drawled. "But not well enough."

My eyes narrowed at his tone. "Well enough for what?"

"Just a little function that you've been invited to."

"Have I?"

"You have."

The smirk was unwavering as he stared down at me and I took a deep breath before taking his proffered hand and repeating the mantra that I'd been telling myself the past month.

"Let's get it over with."

* * *

Since I lived alone in the rather large, six bedroom flat(supposedly one room per family member plus a guest bedroom) I was allowed to move into the master bedroom since there was no one else to take it. My parents had bought the apartment for my personal use, really, after the two of them had to move to separate places and I decided to stay in Tokyo. They picked out a place that any of them could easily move into if need be but that need seemed to be a long time coming, if ever, to me. Though, my older sisters and cousins occasionally stayed over during breaks, it was mostly me. Yuushi came over often, too. What I enjoyed the most was that the interior decorating fell solely onto me (and Yuushi) and I took liberties in making it extra modern with chrome and leather and all that. Such a design was inspired by my grandmother. My sisters would probably keel of over laughing if I told them that.

At this point, I'd reached my closet and taken out the first decent dress I saw, threw it onto the bed and moved into the adjoining bathroom to freshen up. Once I was done, I slipped into the dress and stared at my reflection for a while, trying to decide what to do with myself. The dress was a one-shouldered piece of cobalt blue silk chiffon and a draped detail over the shoulder and I toyed around with the drapery until I decided that I was lazy and simply combed my hair and tossed it over one shoulder while I applied minimal makeup

I also picked out a pair of shoes – they were black suede cutouts with fairly high heels but I was no stranger to fashion, contrary to Atobe's beliefs, and I knew fashion _hurt_ – and decided that I would wear them when I got into the elevator to lessen the chances of injuring myself.

I found him leaning on the arm of a sofa, inspecting a couple of framed pictures on a side table. He looked up when I reached the top of the stairs and nodded as he called out, "Ready to go?"

"Do I look ready to you?" I shot back casually when I reached the bottom.

"I suppose."

"Good." He was waiting for me by the door already but I made a quick detour to grab a box of Pretz from my counter and was off after glaring at him pointedly and grabbing my coat off the sofa I'd draped it over.

True to my decision, I put on my shoes after we were safely in the elevator. "See, Atobe," I started to tell him during the 18-storey descent, "You don't need to kidnap me to get me dressed. All you need to do is ask." Our interaction briefly replayed itself in my head. "Which, in retrospect, you didn't do either."

He chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Remind me again what we're doing." I said as we exited my building and saw the car parked in front.

Atobe got in first and offered me a hand which I eyed wearily. "It's one of the charity balls that my parents host regularly. They figured I should show you off."

Rolling my eyes, I took his hand. "Thank you for objectifying me, Atobe. It feels great." I said, and after doing so, promptly whacked my head on the top of the doorframe. I yelped in pain and brought my free hand over to inspect the damage, not at all missing how Atobe choked down a laugh as he took me by the waist carefully and lowered me into the car. Even the chauffeur had a smile on, from what I could see at the corner of my eye as he closed the door behind me.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked after schooling his expression and stifling his laughter.

There would be a bump later, I knew, but it was nothing I wasn't used to. I told him as much and scowled when he nodded stiffly. "Just let it out, you know, your false pity is even more embarrassing."

Instead of outright laughing, his smirk worsened a hundredfold as he remained silent throughout half the trip to his house. I realized it would have been better if he just laughed...or flipped his hair.

Okay, maybe it _was _better without the hair flipping.

* * *

The accident wasn't all that hard to live down considering that I'd had far worse than that.

Atobe had asked me in the car when he'd finally settled down how I really was and I told him so. The second half of the trip was spent telling him a few of the embarrassing situations I'd been that beat the one I just had. Considering that said incident was pretty low on the spectrum of my accidents, I didn't even need to tell him the really humiliating ones. All the same, he smiled at me derisively the whole trip and whenever it got particularly bad, I'd whack him a little with my shoe – both of which I'd taken off in the car.

Once at the Atobe residence, he led me into a sitting room where he told me to wait while he changed. I'd slipped my shoes off again and was idly browsing through a shelf of CDs tucked into a corner of the room.

Atobe came back twenty or so minutes later dressed in a dapper charcoal gray suit that, of course, fit perfectly.

"We'll be late," he said, picking up my shoes from by the sofa and walking over to me.

After securing my shoes on my feet, he maneuvered me up a few stairs on which I kept my hand firmly on the railings until we reached a set of double doors. I could hear the deafening sound of a chopper's rotor. My eyes narrowed at Atobe who simply stood there with a glint in his eye, hand on the door latch.

"What gives?" I shouted over the din.

"I never said the party would take place here." He replied, just loud enough for me to hear him before pushing the door open and allowing the gusts of wind in.

There were a pair of maids and that butler of his waiting outside on their private helipad. The pilot was already inside, presumably waiting for us.

My hand went up to my hair to keep it out of my face as I stared at the arrangement before me. Thanking my coat for holding my dress down in the artificial tornado, I made my way to the chopper carefully. Atobe was already waiting for me inside, watching as I held on to the side of the doorway before heaving myself up. "Watch your head," he said with amusement in his voice as he took my arm and pulled me the rest of the way into the cabin. The door shut behind me just as I settled into the seat.

"Where are you taking me now?" I asked, exasperated as I fastened the safety belts.

He leaned over to the pilot and gave him what I assumed to be the go signal.

Safe to say, I made it to the Atobe mountain villa in Karuizawa without inadvertently slamming my head into another doorframe so I suppose that was one thing to be thankful for.

* * *

_**Well, I hope you liked it!**_

___**Tell me what you think! READ and REVIEW, please!**_


	18. Move Along

_**Hey, people! I know I dropped off the grid for a while and it's been a hell of a time. And I mean HELL.**  
_

_**So, I'm glad to finally be back on , I've really missed and it I am INCREDIBLY SORRY for the long, long time you had to wait. I hope I never do that again.**_

_**And thank you to all the reviewers! I absolutely love reading them all.**_

_**Hope you like the chapter!**_

_**READ and REVIEW, please!**_

* * *

_Men suck._

Case in point: Atobe Keigo.

See, boys who don't suck do not, I'm pretty sure, take their _fake-_girlfriends out on a chopper to go to a party only to return her near midnight on a school night. (Quite frankly, they're not even _supposed _to _have_ fake-girlfriends.) Boys who don't suck do not still insist – very, very persistently – on taking an early morning jog after doing just that. Also, boys who don't suck do not have fangirls _that put pushpins on said fake-girlfriend's desk chair. _

Oh, and I _know _it was them.

I could understand if there was someone who accidentally dropped a tack or two on my seat but I don't think a dozen tacks can tape themselves onto the side of the chair.

Atobe Keigo sucks, I tell you.

Him being the reason why I was in the school infirmary getting tacks pulled out of my leg.

I was laying on my stomach in one of the infirmary's cots, the doctor carefully prying the tacks out of the back of my leg when the door slid open. I looked up and saw someone I didn't want to see, well, not exactly. And it would seem that he saw me, too.

"Takashina," Shishido said, eyes widening slightly in surprise. It probably wasn't everyday that he saw his captain's supposed girlfriend in the infirmary with a tack in her leg.

Yes, there was a certain bitterness in me about it. If that wasn't obvious already.

"Hey, Shishido," I said coolly, turning my head to the side and propping it up on my palm. "What are you in for?" I hissed as Souma-sensei, the school doctor, dabbed something on my wounds. "Did someone stab _you _with a tack?"

He cocked an eyebrow at me as he dropped into the next cot. "Is that what happened to you? It's starting, huh?"

There was no use playing dumb. I knew _exactly _what he was referring to. Unfortunately. "Talk about 'Attack of the Killer Fangirls.'"

He snorted and then threw himself further into the mattress. "Good luck with that."

Souma-sensei had, at this point, gauzed my leg and wheeled her chair over to Shishido's bedside. "Well, Shishido-san, what is it this time?"

"I feel unwell." He said tonelessly, throwing his arm over his eyes and settling further into his pillow.

It was my turn to snort loudly as I pushed myself off the bed and flipped over. "What's new there?"

Shishido's arm lowered slightly so he could look at me. I could see the tell-tale quiver that indicated he was trying hard not to smile. "Watch your back, Takashina."

"Ditto." I said, slipping my shoes on as Souma-sensei cleared me to go back to class. My hand was on the doorway when Shishido started speaking again.

"Hey, Takashina," I turned around to show that I was listening and then cocked my eyebrow at him. "Thanks...you know...for your incredibly late birthday gift."

"You're very welcome, Shishido." I replied, ever-so-politely. "How'd you like it?"

"How'd you know?" He answered instead.

"Oh, you have your own fans, too, Shishido."

I shrugged and stepped into the hall just in time to hear him mutter, "Sadly."

* * *

Yuushi was apologetic when I returned from the infirmary. My friends were anxious about my reaction – or apparent lack thereof. I'd stepped into the classroom to be met with an awkward almost-silence. One glance around the room and the culprit was obvious if the quiver of a smirk on her face was any indication. Damn fangirl. The other fangirls seemed to have a similar uncontainable amusement but none of their grins were as feral as hers. She was just a classmate of mine. Well, that was before.

Now, she was the enemy. Or _an _enemy, I guess.

I sighed to myself as I stepped into the room.

Despite my bitterness, I was still too tired from the previous night's activities to bother being hostile.

So, I settled into my seat and closed my eyes for a second. When I opened them again, Yuushi was standing in front of me, a sheepish look on his face.

"I'm sorry about that, Mai-hime," he said in a heavily accented mutter. His glasses slid down his nose as he looked at me, a careful smile forming. I laughed.

"Damn straight." I muttered back just as Taki made his way over to us as well. He stood next to Yuushi and nodded politely before smiling down at me uneasily.

"Mai-chan," he started. Taki was essentially my back-up nanny. That is, he was second in line after Shishido when it came to babysitting me during practice. He'd be the one taking Shishido's spot whenever it was the drama queen's turn to train. It seemed to have rekindled our friendship a bit, not that we were distant prior to this, but we were getting on a little better since I've been attending tennis practice. But he still didn't know what was going on with me and Atobe. Not like I intended on telling him. "Are you all right?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, I rested my head in my palm, looking up at the two of them tiredly. "I'm fine, I'm fine." I assured them just as the teacher slid the door open and ordered everyone into their seats.

The both of them looked at me dubiously before making their way back to their seats.

Things were going to be tough from hereon in.

Damn you and your freako fangirls, Atobe Keigo.

* * *

"Ah!" I heard a familiar voice shout. "Mai-chin!" Eiji came barrelling around the corner to come up behind me as he took me by the shoulders and steered me towards the courts.

"Yo, Eiji." I greeted, chuckling. I'd just finished my Thursday practice with Akazawa-sensei and, as always, I was on my way to Seigaku practice. Being at Seigaku had recently become a very welcome change of pace in my life seeing as it was one of the only places where I was relatively sure that I wasn't going to be attacked my rabid, misguided fangirls. 'Recently' being only two or three days ago when the attacks started. So far, the worst one still had to be the tacks taped to my seat. After that, they'd been comparatively mild. 'Mild' simply being raucous teasing(easily ignored); even more grating mocking(still easily ignored); a propensity to hiss and glare whenever I passed(laughable); and other petty attempts at torturing me excepting the occasional wayward leg in my path. I suspected that Yuushi had something to do with the decrease in ferociousness. I was pretty sure, however, that they were doing all those things to meet an end that would favour them and their...err...relationship with one Atobe Keigo. And that they wouldn't stop anytime soon. I sighed at the annoying situation I was in but perked up quickly as Eiji led me to my usual bench where Syuu-kun was already waiting.

He greeted me with his usual smile. "Ne, Mai, I have something for you."

I cocked an eyebrow at him as I lowered myself onto the bench. "Yeah? Did I miss my birthday or something?" I grinned as he handed me a paper bag. "But I didn't get you anything."

Syuu-kun shook his head. "That's alright." He told me as I opened the bag to find a stack of books. My eyes widened as they processed the titles. Laughing, I flipped through _Tennis for Beginners Vol. 1_. Underneath it were the next two volumes in the set. "Syuu-kun, I'm speechless."

He chuckled lightly in response and took the second book from my lap. "I figured that it would be easier if your tennis lessons weren't so sporadic. With these, you can learn even when I'm not around." He explained, leafing through the pages as well.

All throughout practice that day, Fuji was directing me to the pages that corresponded to the training Inui was giving in real time.

When Fuji left for a while to go into the courts, Horio, that freshman kid, and his friends came over. Tomoka leaned over my shoulder to glance at what I was reading.

"Syuu-kun is taking up the task of mentoring me in the complicated ways of tennis," I replied to her inquiry of why I was reading tennis manuals.

After saying this, Horio once again dominated the conversation with how I should have come to him so he could teach me all his tennis genius. After he said that, the conversation was dominated by his friends trying to shut him up while I laughed in the sidelines, absently reading along until Syuu-kun came over and took his seat again. The first-years, not including Tomoka, quieted at his presence. Just as they were herding themselves away, Tomoka turned around and grinned at me.

"Mai-san, Mai-san," she called and I lifted my head up from the book to look at her. "Are you coming this Sunday?"

"This Sunday?" I repeated.

Syuu-kun made a noise of realization next to me just as Eiji and Momo came over. "That's right!" Eiji exclaimed, bouncing over. "We almost forgot!"

I still looked on with confusion and vaguely registered Tomoka being trundled away by the other first years. Apparently, they did not want to be caught shirking their duties. "It's our School Festival." Momo supplied.

As far as I could remember, I didn't make any plans for the weekend so it didn't take much for me to agree.

Eiji's eyes sparkled merrily. "Our class is selling manjuu!"

My eyes mirrored his sparkle. "My mouth's already watering." Honestly, it was.

"We're doing a takoyaki stand, Takashina-san." Momo added. Kami, now I was hungry. I wonder if I could get Tezuka-kun to make a quick snack stop with me on the way home.

"What's your class doing, Syuu-kun?" I turned to face him expectantly.

"We're doing a café, aren't we, Tezuka?" He asked suddenly, addressing the stoic buchou who was standing a little to the side, keenly observing practice.

In response, he simply nodded in agreement. Fuji chuckled and then leaned closer to me, presumably to whisper into my ear but he did so loud enough for Momo and Eiji to hear, "Our class managed to _persuade_ Tezuka into participating as one of the waiters." He opened one of his eyes in a semblance of a wink. "You'll come, won't you?"

Momo and Eiji covered their mouths with their hands in an attempt to stifle their snickers. Instead of snickering, I returned the wink. "I'm more certain now than ever."

Later, when I was with Tezuka-kun on the way to the train station home, I managed to convince him to stop by the ice cream shop in the station. I suppose, considering it wasn't much of a hassle, he didn't put up much of a fight. All that talk of food made me ravenous. A rather large dinner was in order. In the train, we talked about the upcoming School Festival and I gleaned that the _persuasion methods _Fuji had mentioned earlier that were the cause of Tezuka agreeing to wait tables at their cafe weren't entirely ethical. I didn't get anything concrete but something told me Fuji wasn't averse to doing something like that in the first place.

* * *

"Are you free this weekend, Mai-hime?" Yuushi asked me after Friday practice as he packed up his things. Atobe had yet to come over and walk me to the gate. He was still with Sakaki-sensei discussing something or other.

"What's up?"

He shrugged and gave me his usual lady-killer smile. "I thought that you might want to watch that new romantic comedy with me. It's been a while since we've gone out and I thought this could be our chance to celebrate my birthday together." He explained. "You know, seeing as we missed our chance last Sunday."

A smile made its way to my face but then I remembered something. I exhaled heavily. "Yuushi," I whined. He raised an eyebrow at my tone. "I'd love to but I actually made arrangements as well."

"Something with the concours?" He asked, eyebrow still raised.

My smile twitched with something akin to amusement. "Not exactly. But I am going _there._" I said, placing a deliberate emphasis on the last word. He caught on quickly.

"What for?"

Zipping up my own bag, I told him, "School Festival, it's on Sunday. The regulars invited me to go and see them."

He hummed smoothly. "You've been fraternizing with the enemy, I see." He gave me a playful grin and I punched him mockingly on the shoulder. Safe to say that he was not losing out to Atobe in any training.

"I guess you could say that." I teased.

"You're going alone?" He wanted to know.

Shrugging, I took my bag from under the seat and slung it over my shoulder. I could see Atobe begin walking towards us. There was no need to tell Yuushi, he saw it, too. "Well, yeah," I said quickly. "It's not as if I can actually ask just anyone to go there with me."

Glancing at Atobe approaching, he said, just as rapidly, an impish grin beginning to form on his face, "You don't need to ask, I'm offering."

And that was how Yuushi ended up lying on the chaise lounge in my living room come Sunday morning as he waited for me to finish dressing up. When I was through, I ambled down the stairs, comfortable in my flat – thank Kami! – black suede ankle boots, wool-lined leather shorts and the gray cashmere pullover Yuushi got me for Christmas a few years back.

I noticed Yuushi's dark head popping out of the head of the chaise as heard me near him. When he stood, I saw that he had a couple of sticks of Pocky in his mouth, the box in his hand. I snorted and reached over to get some. "I see you haven't gotten over that habit of raiding my pantry."

"Never," he drawled, snapping the stick in half. He looked down at my outfit and smiled. "You still have it." He pointed out.

"Not at all," I said in a pleasantly sarcastic voice. "You're imagining it on me."

He grinned, righting his glasses. "Imagined or not, it still looks great on you."

Chortling, I snatched the remaining sticks from him and went to throw the empty box in the kitchen trash can. "You still have it, too, Yuu-chan." I remarked in a sing-song voice, referring to his penchant for sweet-talking.

Dressed in dark jeans, sneakers, and a stylish – was Yuushi ever anything but? – graphic tee, he was every fangirl's dream wrapped in a loose bomber jacket as he padded his way to the front door and held it open for me, asking if I was ready. Thank Kami he wasn't my type. I've had enough grief over apparently hot guys in my life.

The trip to Seigaku was as fun as it always was with Yuushi. We stopped at the same ice cream shop that Tezuka-kun and I went to once we arrived at the station and he treated me to an easy three scoops of the stuff while he got a popsicle. It led me to wonder about Atobe for one reason or another and how much enjoyment would I come to experience if this were one of the times he had me go to random places with him. Probably more if he'd just feed me more. Apparently, the way to get more sweets was to say something intelligently mocking. I smirked to myself. Well, now that I knew, that'd be easy to arrange.

Arriving at the gate, the place was filled with people of different shapes and sizes. Female heads turned, as Yuushi slung his arm over my shoulders, as he'd taken to doing more often than not, and led me into the fray. Typical.

"So, Mai-hime," he started, peering into different booths while we walked. "Where to first?"

I thought about it for a second, debating whether I wanted manjuu or takoyaki first. I even heard that Taka-san and Oishi-san's class was doing _karaage._ "How 'bout we make a stop at the first one I see and then go from there?"

"Sounds good to me."

The first one we came across was the manjuu stall and, conveniently, Eiji was the one manning it along with someone else, probably a classmate of his, that I didn't know. He saw me first and waved enthusiastically. I waved back and held back a laugh when I saw the recognition and then shock that passed through his face when he saw whose arm was around my shoulder. He was still gaping when we stepped in front of him.

"Mai-chin," he breathed slowly before his eyes suddenly turned all wide and catlike as his stare wandered over to Yuushi. "Oshitari." He acknowledged. Yuushi nodded and looked on amusedly as Eiji's wide eyes returned to me as he said in a small, exaggerated whisper, "Is he what I think he is, Mai-chin?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him and then rolled my eyes. Well, there was a slim chance of me being wrong about what he was thinking so I took a chance answering. For one thing, I didn't want to hear him say what he was thinking out loud. "No, he is not what you think he is, Eiji." I said firmly. "He's just a close friend of mine."

Eiji's eyes shrunk back to normal size at my answer but his skittish smile stayed put. "Are you sure, Mai-chin?"

I rolled my eyes again at his question. "Yes, I'm sure." While I said this, I drew my wallet out of my black leather satchel and snapped it open. "Now, are you sure you're not going to ask me if I want to buy something? Because, I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure I'm hungry." He grinned and did his job as I handed him the money for three manjuu buns. "Thank you." I said politely as I took the food from him. Yuushi and I were just getting on our way when he called after us.

"Mai-chin! Oshitari! Glad you made it!" He said loudly, not lacking any of his usual Eiji-ness.

The both of us laughed and I turned around and grinned at him over Yuushi's shoulder as his arm was still around mine. "Me, too, Eiji!"

I waved at him one last time before turning around and shoving my hand into the bag he just handed me and taking out one to give to Yuushi.

"I can tell today is going to be fun." Yuushi remarked as he bit into the savory bun.

I swallowed my own bite. "Isn't it?" And I popped the rest of it into my mouth with a grin.

* * *

The regulars' reactions to Yuushi at my side varied. There were differing levels of shock as went and visited all the booths that they had told me about yesterday. So far, we had yet to visit only one more booth, Syuu-kun's cafe. I was purposely saving that for last so we could have some down time from the walking and enjoy the show. Inui was hardly surprised when I showed up at his class' – rather odd – stall. They were selling this crazy looking drink that I wouldn't take my chances on and Yuushi didn't look too keen on doing so either. Although, I couldn't indentify much of his reaction because of those mirrored glasses of his. He simply took out that ubiquitous notebook, gave me that ubiquitous smile and then started jotting stuff down. I scrutinized him warily. He knew something about Atobe, I was sure. But he seemed more disposed to simply observing how that turned out so I wasn't that worried. Well, I hoped he was more disposed to that.

Momo's reaction was probably the loudest. But it was also the most familiar. Yuushi seemed to share some weird connection with the guy. Admittedly, I was always up for some fun weird connections that involved Yuushi, nowadays.

We were on our way to our final destination, if you will, and Yuushi was asking me about it. "Think about it, Yuushi." I told him coolly when he'd asked who it was going to be this time. "Who haven't we been to yet?"

There was a pause followed by a curt chuckle. "Tezuka and Fuji, huh?"

"That's right," I intoned, sticking my hand into the pockets of my shorts.

There was a girl at the entrance of what I was told to be Syuu-kun's classroom who was supposed to be acting as the maître'd. Currently, the girl was looking at Yuushi like he was the food to be served and she hadn't eaten in days. She didn't even bother acknowledging me despite the arm that was still securely draped around me. His only response to her was to ask for a table for two and smirk that effervescent smirk of his as she nodded with much enthusiasm before almost tripping over herself to get to the table.

Once we'd been settled in, the girl bowed out reluctantly only to be replaced by someone with an all-too-familiar smile who handed us our menus. I took in his white button down and sleek vest and the tie neatly knotted at his neck.

"I see you brought a friend, Mai." He observed mildly as he handed me the laminated sheet. I shrugged, already preoccupied with my order.

"Don't get any ideas, Syuu-kun." I stated blandly before completely tuning them out. I could tell they were talking about something or other but I wanted food. Nevermind that I had actually bought something from all the food stalls that the regulars were taking care of. All that walking can really make a girl hungry. And since I've started jogging in the morning with Atobe, I find myself hungrier than usual. But considerably less tired. And it seems I've been developing some muscle tone. I suppose I should thank him for even that much.

Once we had both given our orders, Syuu-kun disappeared into the kitchen and then came back with a chair that he pulled up next to our table and proceeded to sit on. I raised my eyebrow curiously just as Yuushi did the same.

"Don't you have a job to do?" I asked, smiling.

He tilted his head innocently. "I clocked out. Someone else took my shift already." At his answer, my eyebrows climbed a little higher. I felt sorry for that someone. It probably wasn't so much that someone took his shift as he made them take his shift. As if he could see the gears turning in my head, he chuckled, adding, "I've been working since noon and we're a little less than an hour from closing. They'll be fine." I nodded slowly, carefully. Still suspicious, but I didn't doubt him too much. Syuu-kun was a reliable guy. I smiled and shook my head. There was someone I was dying to see.

"Okay, I can accept that. But on another note, where is he?"

He tilted his head a little more before smiling wider. "He'll be out any second now. He was just getting an order in the kitchen."

As if on cue, the door slid open and in came Tezuka, a tray balanced expertly in one hand. He was dressed similarly to Syuu-kun, only he wasn't wearing a tie, his collar was open and his vest was more of a charcoal gray color. That and the look in his eyes told all that he _so _did not want to be here right now.

I snickered silently with Syuu and Yuushi as he marched over to a table and served the two dumbstruck girls that sat at it, doing so without so much as any indication that he was even breathing. When he was done with their orders, he turned on his heel and was about to walk straight out the door if it weren't for Syuu-kun sticking his arm out and calling him over. He walked over with a grim expression.

He spotted Oshitari across me and the two exchanged nods of acknowledgement. Men. From the corner of my eye, as I looked up at Tezuka, I could see Yuushi's lips quiver as he tried to keep his amusement at bay.

"Yo, Tezuka-kun," I saluted casually.

"Takashina-san." He replied. Before I could say much else, he turned back around and walked stiffly back to the kitchen.

Rather than feeling insulted, I started laughing and the two other guys joined me. "Well, that was abrupt." I said, leaning back into my seat.

To our surprise, though, Tezuka started marching towards our table only two minutes later carrying a tray that contained what appeared to be our drinks. He set it down on the table just as Syuu-kun dragged up another chair for him to sit on. "I had Hasegawa cover for you, come sit with us."

"Ah." He distributed the drinks before taking a seat in between Syuu-kun and me.

While I was preoccupied with draining my glass of milk tea, I barely noticed Tezuka reaching into his vest until he placed a flash drive in front of me on the table.

I looked at him, straw still sticking out of the side of my mouth. "I don't remember ordering this."

Yuushi and Syuu-kun chuckled, cutting their conversation short. Tezuka just nodded but I think I saw his eyebrows kind of loosen.

"Akazawa-sensei gave it to me this morning. He wanted me to hand that to you in case you came today." He told me promptly.

I picked the flash drive off the tabletop and slipped them into my shorts pocket. "Thanks, Tezuka-kun. I'm so sorry sensei dragged you into this."

He shook his head. "Not at all."

Fuji turned to Yuushi and I could've sworn that both their eyes flashed something ominous. It made me regret that I wasn't paying more attention to what they were talking about earlier.

* * *

"That was fun," Yuushi said. We were on our way back to the train station and his arm was around my shoulder again. "I'm glad I invited myself." He grinned.

I grinned back. "I am, too."

"Admittedly, that was almost as good as watching a nice romcom together." He added with a smirk.

Snorting, I punched him a little in ribs. But I missed and hit his abs instead. _Still as awesomely rock solid as ever._

We'd stayed at the café until closing time and even helped Syuu-kun and his class tidy up a bit before the other regulars came and made a mess of things again. Yuushi and I decided that it was time to bow out and said our goodbyes. The responses were typical for each person but I could've sworn that Yuushi and Syuu-kun shared a look _again. _Though, in retrospect, I suppose that was a typical response for Syuu-kun anyway.

So, here we were on the train, and all I could do was pester Yuushi about what the hell went on in that _look. _That evil, evil look. Of course, he didn't answer me.

"I'm pretty sure I always look like that, Mai-hime." He tried to reason with me, looking down as he leaned on the pole. It was rush hour. Yuushi, being the gentleman he was, procured a seat from a very _eager_ young man for me and then opted to lean against the pole next to my seat so that he was standing directly in front of me. Incidentally, he was also standing directly diagonal to two very smitten junior high girls. They giggle. Constantly.

Ignoring another round of giggling, I tilted my head to look up at him and indeed he always looks like that. But that's beside the point. "I know that, Yuushi. The problem was that Syuu-kun looked something like that, too, while looking at you." I narrowed my eyes at him to emphasize my point.

As if timing was on his side – hell, who _wouldn't _be on his side if they had a choice anyway – the train came to our stop. He took my hand and pulled me from my seat. "Would you look at that?" He said evenly as he slid his arm around my waist this time. "It's our stop."

Oh, it wasn't over yet. "Yuushi, just tell me already. I am not going to let up on you." I ground out.

"Do you want ice cream again?" _Damn it. _I thought.

"Damn it." I said out loud. He got me. For now.

"Is that a no?"

"No." I sighed and let him lead me to the Haagen-Dazs around the corner.

Once I was finished with my ice cream and we were on my street. I chanced asking him again. I intended to do it while we were at the ice cream place but he was very good with words and we talked about tennis instead. "Yuushi, come on."

He laughed and leaned into me more. "You're still on that?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Of course you are."

We stopped in front of my building and he sighed. Still, I could see the tell-tale upward pull of his mouth as he did so. I stared out at the street behind him and snorted, smiling as well.

And then something weird happened. Well, not really weird, I guess, just unsuspected. A familiar black Benz parked in front of my building, just about eight metres behind Yuushi. My eyebrows met, incredulous.

At that point, I wasn't particularly paying attention when Yuushi slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I only snapped out of it when he started talking again.

"Do you really want to know?" He said, the light of the building casting a shadow over half his face but the smirk was still there. He leaned even closer.

My eyebrows were still mashed together. "I do." I nodded slowly. "I also want to know why I'm breathing your carbon dioxide."

He laughed. And I was serious about the carbon dioxide thing. I could feel his breath on my mouth.

Smiling even wider, he just pulled me closer as the door to the backseat of the Benz opened and a very familiar figure stepped outside. "That's the reason." He said, finally, after we had exchanged a few rounds of air. This definitely wasn't as romantic as it's made out to be. Not that Yuushi wasn't hot or anything. But again, _not my type. _

My eyes flitted over to where Atobe had leaned on the car, arms folded in front of his chest. The inscrutable expression on his face was illuminated by the same building lights that were casting shadows on Yuushi's. I drew my gaze back towards the latter.

The tensai moved again. One more inch and we wouldn't just be breathing the same air, we'd be breathing into each other. He tilted his head and I closed my eyes, stifling a sigh because it would be gross to sigh at this proximity.

When did his hand make its way to the back of my neck?

"He thinks you're kissing me, doesn't he?" I managed to mumble as his hand at my neck emphatically made its way into my hair.

I don't know how but Yuushi smirked audibly. "That's the idea."

This time, I really did sigh. I cracked open the eye that would be less visible to the obnoxious buchou just a crack and stared blankly at my surroundings. This wasn't exactly surprising when it came to Yuushi. If he was fond of something, it was nice legs and playing with people. He _did _tell me my legs were nice. So this fell under both categories, presumably. It would seem as though that sigh was misinterpret if both of Atobe's eyebrows rising was any indication. Yuushi really played this game well. Of course, angling yourself perfectly to look like you were kissing somebody was a piece of cake for a genius such as him.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, I closed my eyes again. "I have a bad feeling about this. I have a bad feeling that this is another one of your freaky social experiments and I'm your guinea pig."

He leaned to the other side and put one of his legs in between mine. He was really playing this up. "Mai-hime, you know me better than that."

I didn't have to open my eyes to see the stupid grin on his face as he said that. "You're right. I have a _horrible_ feeling about this."

"How does he look?"

Opening both my eyes, I saw the smirk that I knew was on his face, shuddered inwardly and then turned towards the glass behind him. Atobe was slumped on the side of his car, in contrast to his usual perfect posture, head slightly forward so that his hair brushed over his eyes. His eyes. They were like the crystal on my chandelier upstairs. Cue shudder. "I dunno, the way he always does. Just kind of in a more pissed off way."

He began to pull away, slowly, just like he would if he was seriously kissing a girl. I've seen it happen. Yuushi's really good at PDA when he wants to be. "That's my girl."

"Am I now?" I told him flatly, running a hand through my hair. "Honestly, I am not quite sure where you've put me and what you are trying to achieve."

He slung his arm around me again and turned me towards the doors to my building. In the reflective glass, I could see Atobe straighten. "I'll bring you up." Yuushi said a little louder than necessary.

The third party to all of this turned back towards his car and slid back in. There was a nudge on my shoulder and I moved forward, hearing the sound of an expensive – you know, that really nice whirring sound – car driving away.

In the elevator, I turned on Yuushi. "To what end?"

"That end." He laughed.

"Why?" I growled up at him. Probably in a rather comedic manner.

"I'm just moving your relationship along."

"What part of this relationship needs moving along?" I exclaimed in exasperation. "It's not even real!"

He gave me a secretive smile as the elevator doors opened and started down the short hallway to my door.

"Yuu. Shi." I clipped when he still didn't answer me. He just took my key from my hand and unlocked my door while I watched him, eye twitching testily.

"Hey," he finally said once my flat door was open, motioning with one arm for me to get inside. I did so slowly, assessing him carefully as I settled into one of the loveseats. He leaned casually on the doorjamb. "When it comes to you two," he started with his extra-heavy, doubly sexy, voice. "I know what I'm doing." He finished with a wink as he set my keys down on the side table and turned to leave.

I gaped after him and the implications of what he just said. "Are you trying to set me up?"

He didn't even flinch as he looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. "Wouldn't dare, hime. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

* * *

_**I hope to be posting the next chapter soon!**_

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**_READ and REVIEW, please! _**


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